A longtime family feud in Oregon's cowboy country over a vintage rodeo outfit has ended after a five-year battle in the courts.
Joan Rice, a 79-year old who lives outside Pendleton, finally has the black-and-white leather vest and skirt back thanks to a settlement last week. She's relieved she will not have to pursue any more litigation, which went all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court.
"I'm thrilled to death," Rice said. "It went clear through the court system and I didn't lose faith."
The court battle started in 2009 but the story really dates to 1930. That's the year that Lois McIntyre was crowned queen of the Pendleton Round-Up in the fringed leather skirt and vest, hand-crafted at Hamley & Co. in Pendleton. When she died in 1964, her son Jim Rice inherited the outfit. He and Joan Rice, his wife, loaned it to the Round-Up Hall of Fame for the public to enjoy.
When her husband died in 1972, Joan Rice left the petite outfit in the museum. It stayed there until 2000, when Mary Rabb, a former Pendleton Round-Up queen and distant relative of McIntyre, told museum officials it rightfully belonged to her and took it home.
Pendleton Round-Up Queen Lois McIntyre smiles in her rodeo finery on June 30, 1930.
Rabb's grandmother was McIntyre's cousin. She said that made her a blood relative. But Joan Rice disagreed and sued in Umatilla County Circuit Court. By that time, the statute of limitations on a lawsuit had passed, Rabb argued. The court tossed the case out, but Rice appealed. In January, the Supreme Court sided with Rice, kicking the case back to the lower court for trial.
Rice's lawyer, Cody Hoesly, said he was waiting on Rabb's lawyer to furnish discovery when he got a call. Rabb's lawyer Dave Gallaher said his client would turn over the outfit if Rice dropped the suit.
Rice agreed and so now she's trying to figure out where the outfit, valued at $25,000, will end up. She wants it displayed.
"I had it at the local bank yesterday," Rice said, referring to a branch in Athena where she lives outside Pendleton. "It's at the library today."
But it could end up in Portland. Rice is considering two places in the city that are interested.
She won't say where, at least not yet.
"But it will be on display," Rice said. "That's what we want is for people to see it. It's a gorgeous apparel."
-- Lynne Terry