Greenwood Elementary Gym Gets New Scoreboard Dedicated to Eldon Chandler
A scoreboard salvaged from a demolished district building now hangs in Greenwood Elementary's gym, dedicated to a La Grande man who spent decades bothered that the school had none.
For more than two decades, Eldon W. Chandler lived next door to Greenwood Elementary School in La Grande and carried a quiet grievance: Greenwood was the only elementary school in the La Grande School District without a scoreboard in its gym. He never let that sit. After Chandler passed away at 93, his granddaughter Missy Rinker, who teaches music at Greenwood, made sure his wish became a reality. The result, unveiled in January, is a refurbished scoreboard now mounted in the Greenwood gym bearing the inscription "In memory of Eldon Chandler."
Chandler's connection to the school ran deeper than geography. As a child he attended Island City Elementary, not Greenwood, though his family's roots in the area are embedded in the local landscape: Chandler Loop carries the family name. Despite attending school elsewhere, he made his way to the Greenwood gym regularly as a youth, drawn by basketball games and Boy Scout meetings. He graduated from La Grande High School in 1948 and later settled into the neighborhood he had long known, living near the school for more than 20 years.
The scoreboard itself was not purchased new. Greenwood procured an old unit from the district's Annex building, which had been torn down a few years earlier, and a chain of community partners stepped in to bring it back to life at no cost to the school. Shaw's Auto Body donated the repainting. Rick Foster at Vomela contributed all the graphics. Lance Rinker and his crew from Northwood Manufacturing donated their time to transport the board to the school. La Grande School District facilities staff then installed it and wired it with a new antenna.
"I am incredibly happy that this project came to fruition and that Papa's name is on it. Also, because of generous community partners, the school didn't have to pay for it," Rinker said.
The scoreboard, by every account, delivered on its promise. As the La Grande School District noted in its release: "The scoreboard looks great and works great.
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