Sisters Rodeo has chosen the Sisters legendary songbird, Peggy Clerf Tehan, as the 2019 Grand Marshal of the Sisters Rodeo Parade.
Tehan, a 35-year resident of Sisters, sang the National Anthem at every rodeo performance for 29 years. Her pure soprano voice impressed the rodeo President, Glenn Miller, who first asked her to sing the anthem in 1989. She saddled up, performing acapella on horseback for all but one rodeo in the ensuing years.
During her first performance, Peggy left her three-month-old daughter in the stands with Jean Wells of the Stitching Post. She laughingly recalls hearing her infant howl while she sang. Four years later, the dedicated Tehan sang, without a horse, just a week before the birth of their third child.
She is a member of the High Desert Chorale and Bell Choir. In 2014, she formed a ukulele group, which now has over 40 members. She is also a member of a wind instrument recorder group, Renaissance Sisters. She has also served on the Board of Directors at Sisters Parks and Recreation District since 2008.
Tehan retired from singing the National Anthem for Sisters Rodeo in 2018. The rodeo held a contest with her as committee chair to bring new voices for each performance. Coming full circle, Audrey Tehan, the howling infant from her mom’s first performance, sang in her mother’s place at the Xtreme Bulls performance last year.
“This is such an honor,” Tehan expressed. “I hope to ride a horse in the parade instead of being in a carriage.” Sisters Rodeo hopes to add the carriage with the rest of the family on board. All of them have contributed to spirit of community of Sisters in so many unique ways.
