Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
lentil family
The 2015 lentil family of the year, the Heatons of Tekoa, rides down Pullman’s Main street saturday.
Gazette Reportr
The National Lentil Festival honored the Gary and Salli Heaton family of Tekoa as the 2015 Lentil Family of the Year at Saturday’s Lentil Festival parade in Pullman.
Riding on a firetruck were Gary, Salli and their children, Andrea, Shana and Patrick and four grandchildren.
“Our youngest grandchild, he learned to wave for the first time,” said Heaton. “Now he waves at everybody ever since.”
The family was honored a year after Gary retired from a 40-year career in the pea & lentil industry. He still drives combines and tractors for his brother-in-law.
“The Gary and Salli Heaton family has served the pulse industry and the Palouse community for decades and continues to do so today,” said Alexandria Anderson, National Lentil Festival Director. “We are excited to have such a deserving group on board with us for the 2015 festival.”
Heaton grew up in Tekoa, graduated from Tekoa High School in 1967 and went to the University of Washington for an education/math degree.
After teaching for two years at a junior high school in Kent, he returned to Tekoa to become the manager of Stateline Processors, a company run by his uncle and cousins.
Heaton had been around the operation much of his life, including time in high school helping to build one of the last wooden grain elevators in the county for Stateline Processors.
Starting again as manager, he worked there for 23 years before leaving in 1997 for Wallace Grain & Pea. Last year, he finished his career at Co-Ag/Northwest Pea & Bean in Spokane/Rosalia.
Heaton has been a board member of the Trade Association and the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council for the last 14 years. He also served as chairman of the U.S. Pea & Lentil Trade Association for three terms.
The Heatons continue to live in Tekoa, where Gary has served as municipal judge, volunteer fireman, on the Chamber of Commerce and as a Tekoa school board member for 20 years.
Salli (McHargue) Heaton comes from a longtime Tekoa farm family.
“I accept this on behalf of both sides of the family,” said Gary.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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