The grief and gratitude behind a Southeastern Oregon gas station closure

It was dark out when 13-year-old Raymond McElhannon switched off the open sign at his family’s roadside business for the last time on Feb. 28. Raymond wanted to be the one to turn off the lights – an echo of his father, who decades earlier helped his grandfather turn them on.

For nearly 35 years, the McElhannons ran Rome Station on U.S. Highway 95 in far southeastern Oregon near Jordan Valley, on the Idaho border. With its bright red roof, what was a welcoming oasis still stands out against an unforgiving high desert landscape.

It was a full-service restaurant – one of just a few for hundreds of miles – and the only place to get gas for 30 miles, a convenience store and a place for weary travelers to stay the night. To the locals, the station and its owners offered much more over the years – a gathering place, a caterer for their weddings and funerals, a tow truck and a home base for a volunteer-run ambulance.

Then, on Dec. 1, Joseph McElhannon died suddenly of a stroke at 49. Raymond lost his dad, and the tight-knit rural community lost a longtime leader who’d been its store manager, mechanic, medic, ambulance driver, and to some, hero.

“Joseph helped save my hubby’s life twice,” said longtime resident and fellow EMT Sheri Rogers.

At the station, Joseph worked alongside his wife, Lisa Marie McElhannon, who was a cook and server at the restaurant for 19 years.

Their family’s business was “the heartbeat of the area,” said friend and Jordan Valley rancher Ann Rutan.

“Joseph and Lisa Marie took care of a lot of people. It wasn’t about money, for sure,” Rutan said.

“Critical” is how travelers and adventurers who launch white water rafting trips down the Owyhee River and epic hikes into the desert described the station. Without it, many are worried about the impact on travelers throughout the area who run out of gas or find themselves stranded on rough roads far from cell service and amenities.

A family tradition

Joel McElhannon, Joseph’s father, bought the station with his brother, Joseph’s uncle, in 1991 after passing by and seeing the shuttered building while on a road trip from Boise, Idaho, to Reno, Nevada.

“It was closed down and all fenced up,” Joel said. “We went to look at it and made an offer right there and the guy accepted.”

Built in the mid-1930s, Rome Station was run by three generations of a different family, the Scotts, before it closed. The McElhannon brothers saw promise in the old buildings and after a few months of renovations and repairs, they reopened.

Joel moved from Reno to Rome with his then 14-year-old son, Joseph. Together the family built out the business and added much-needed towing and mechanic services to the area.

“They pulled my bacon out of the fire so many times in the early days,” Brian Sykes said.

He’s run rafting trips in the area for over thirty years and is the co-owner of Ouzel Outfitters, a white-water rafting guide service based in Bend that leads expeditions down the Owyhee River.

Sykes recalled one time his truck got stuck in a ditch and the McElhannons towed it out. Another year, he needed an alternator replaced. Joseph found one and helped install it.

“There were just so many little incidents of helping us out,” he said.

Saving the day, twice

In addition to his sprawling duties at Rome Station, Joseph was a volunteer EMT for Jordan Valley EMS. Without a tax base to fund emergency services, many rural Oregon ambulances are staffed by volunteers. For years, 911 calls for help in the area were routed to him.

Rogers trained and worked with him as an EMT on the ambulance he maintained at Rome Station. They responded to dozens of calls together over the years, from fatal car crashes to people hurt at home. When the phone rang in 2004, it was Rogers’ own husband who needed help.

He severed a major artery during a horseback riding accident, she said. Joseph sprang into action.

“He brought the ambulance, he drove and I got in the back with my husband and off we went to meet the helicopter.”

Weeks later, on the first night her husband was back home from the hospital, Rogers said he fainted in the kitchen. Joseph, once again, rushed him to the hospital, where he was treated for a blood clot that had caused a stroke. The quick response and intervention likely saved his life again, Rogers said.

Turning out the lights

After Joseph’s unexpected death in December, his father Joel said the plans for Rome Station’s future were upended. Joel is in his mid-70s and said he cannot run the station any longer. He had planned for Joseph and his wife Lisa to take over the business.

Instead, the family intends to list the Rome Station for sale soon. Joel said he’s already heard from a handful of interested buyers.

Lisa hopes a new owner will reopen “something similar to what we have, but their vision of it.”

“I would definitely like the gas station back, for sure, because I know so many people need that,” she said.

She wasn’t ready to talk publicly about Joseph and their family’s loss. But she hopes whoever buys Rome Station will let her and their son Raymond stay in their house on the property. He’s entering high school next year, and like his dad did, he wants to graduate from Jordan Valley High School.