Column: Local Grads Make the World A Better Place Episode 5; Meet Gretchen Sharp
Gretchen Sharp
Editor’s Note - This is the Fifth part in a multi-part series of columns looking at students who were educated within The Dalles School system and who have gone on to make major contributions to our community by bringing their skills and experience to make a positive impact for all of us. A huge thanks goes to Nancy Turner and Patty Rolen.
By Nancy Turner and Patty Rolen
It was like coming home!
Nancy Turner
That is how Gretchen Sharp felt when coming back to her job at The Dalles Athletic Club. Gretchen worked at the club for twenty-seven years and then took a break for eight years. Not a break from work, but to work at Copa di Vino for five years as regional sales manager for friends Mollie and James Martin. Gretchen followed up by working for Matt and Angie Herriges at Optomitist Printers for three years. For eight years she learned new skills and worked for good friends at both jobs.
Gretchen graduated from The Dalles High School in 1978 and married the same year. She raised her two boys on her family farm. Her dad's family traveled west on the Oregon Trail in 1864. They came to Oregon to open a mercantile in Canyon City, before continuing to The Dalles, where they started farming wheat.
Patty Rolen
Gretchen realized she missed working for The Dalles Athletic Club.
For years The Dalles Athletic Club was home. She enjoyed the classes before retiring from teaching them in 2013. She especially liked the first class she taught, the Senior Arthritis Foundation Class. One of her favorite activities during the day is seeing her own childhood teachers and family friends who come into the club each day.
When new owners, Tim and Colleen Dahle, bought the club in January 2022, she was drawn back to manage the club.
Kenny Haener of The Dalles gives the power sled a concerted push at The Dalles Athletic Club.
She had previously worked with Colleen for seventeen years earlier at the club. When Gretchen came back to the club almost a year ago, she knew in the first fifteen minutes this was meant to be.
Gretchen has always felt that the club acted as a type of community center in The Dalles. It is a place to meet friends (sometimes new ones), and give kids an opportunity for healthy fun!
Eugene Horvath holds up an 8-inch mortar that hit 800 feet in the air before exploding into thousands of intense sparks on the Fourth of July. Gretchen Sharp has been involved with bringing the annual fireworks show to The Dalles through her work on the Fort Dalles Fourth nonprofit committee.
Gretchen has been involved with many local organizations over the years, including The Dalles Main Street, United Way of the Gorge, and Fort Dalles Fourth.
The mission of each of these organizations has a positive influence on The Dalles, which is a passion close to Gretchen's heart. When describing The Dalles, and why she has stayed after considering opportunities to go elsewhere, Gretchen says our town stands out as a friendly and helpful, welcoming community, with an independent pioneer spirit.
"It will always be home!"
