MCDERMITT - McDermitt alumni Rusty Bengoa has a rich history in McDermitt, Orovada and Kings River, Nev., on his Dad's side of the family, as well as Denio, where his mother was raised.
All four of his paternal great grandparents came from Spain. His great-grandfather, Francisco Bengoa, arrived in the States in 1903, and both he and his wife Margarita (Achabal), whose family came in 1906 and settled on a ranch north of McDermitt, came from Viscaya, Spain.
Francisco and his brother Domingo owned a ranch on Jackson Creek, also north of McDermitt, and there Francisco and Margarita raised four children, Cleto, Frank, Marge and Rusty's grandfather Chris.
The children were young when their dad died and when Cleto, a civil engineer who worked on Highway 95, came back to the ranch in the early 1940s, the three brothers agreed to sell Jackson Creek and buy the Kings River Ranch from the Dufurrena family. It was there the next generation of Bengoas grew up.
Rusty's other paternal great-grandfather, Daniel Gabica, came from Ereno, Spain, and found work at the Rock Creek Ranch in Orovada. Some years later he returned to Spain and married Constancia (Bengochea). They had a daughter before returning to Rock Creek, which they purchased in a partnership with Daniel's brother Frank in 1919.
There, Rusty's grandma Mary and her siblings, Filicia, Raymond, Joe (who died in World War II) and Daniel, grew up. They attended the one-room school in Orovada, where Marge (Bengoa) Echave was one of their teachers.
Later, Mary married Marge's brother Chris Bengoa and they settled on the Kings River Ranch to raise their family, which included daughter Cecilia (Ratliff) of Moses Lake, Wash., and twins, Cleto of Winnemucca, and Chris - Rusty's dad.
Rusty's maternal great-great-great-grandparents Adam and Mary Adrian arrived in Denio, Nev., in time to help settle the little town, building the store there in 1903. Their daughter Kate had two girls, Daisy (Denier) Sherburn and Marie. Marie married Irwin (Mustang) Smith, who came to the area with Miller and Lux, bringing horses, mules and cattle.
Their son Earl (Bud) Smith spent his whole life in Denio and he and his wife Francis (Rathburn) had two sons, Earl and Frank, and their older sister LaRena - Rusty's mom
LaRena married Chris Bengoa in 1978 and the couple moved to McDermitt, where they operated the Quinn River Merc for ten years, living in the store's apartment. It was there that Rusty joined them on March 29, 1984. A year later the family moved to the Lucky Seven Ranch when Chris accepted a manager position there.
Rusty, along with his brother Kelsey, grew up learning to rope and work cattle with their dad; and became scholars under their mom, a teacher at McDermitt.
The family would go fishing out at the Echave and Coyote reservoirs, and with the Smith grandparents up at Onion Reservoir near Denio. It was fun playing with older cousins Sandy, Cody and Sonny Bengoa, who teased them and called them - because they were younger and got hurt more easily - the "owie" brothers!
They also enjoyed spending time with their uncles Earl and Frank Smith, who lived with them at the Lucky 7 while they attended high school at McDermitt.
Rusty liked kindergarten with teacher Dolores Armknecht, who was also the guest speaker at his high school graduation. His favorite grade school teacher was Mary Kay Pace and he liked playing rural basketball and the spring play-day.
His sixth-grade teacher was Mrs. Bengoa, or "mom" when they got back home! While he competed in junior high track, it was basketball with coach Nick Wilkinson that he loved.
He believes that he had excellent teachers in high school and picks Ruth Alcorta, Darlene Albisu, Greg Scott and Pat Goff as favorites.
He was a part of the class that put together - and ran - "m-hip," the only high school-run Internet provider service in the world at that time, meeting a need in the community to enter the computer age of the world wide web!
He was on the Academic Olympics team, was Student Council President his junior and senior year and Student Body vice president. A highlight of their senior year was with coach Goff and an outstanding bunch of athletes. After a near miss his sophomore and junior years, they were not only the regional champions, but won the state basketball championship against Alamo.
This group of dedicated athletes also won the sportsmanship championship and proved being an "athlete" and "smart" can go together by winning the state academic scholarship, with a team GPA of 3.7, the first time in the state for the same team to win both.
Unfortunately, Rusty completed high school without the physical support of his Mom. LaRena lost a long and courageous battle with cancer during his junior year when he was 17 and Kelsey only 15.
While Rusty admits that even today it is hard to talk about his mother, he says that she is a major cornerstone in his life. She instilled in him a love of reading and stressed the importance of an education. While it is always hard to lose a loved one, at the age of 17 there are no consolable words.
- See ALUMNI, Page 24 -
It was during his junior year that he and Kelsey, coached and supported by their dad, hit the high school rodeo circuit. Growing up working on the ranch during the summers and with a brother close to the same age it seemed natural to choose team roping as their event.
Falling short of National High School Rodeo Finals by only 4 points they more than made up for disappointment by winning multiple saddles and cash awards in the ATRA and USTRC organizations.
Rusty graduated from McDermitt Combined School in 2002 as co-valedictorian with two other classmates, Lowell Egan, and Justin Goff.
That fall he enrolled at Eastern Oregon University where he continued with rodeo and was the team captain his senior year. This time he and his partner, Matt Meyers, won the Northwest Region, and qualified for the National College Rodeo Finals, ending up fourth in the team roping.
He appreciates his friends, Wannie and Beth McKenzie, for letting him keep his horses at their place and being a second home while attending college.
After receiving a degree in business administration he joined Kelsey, who was in school in Las Vegas by then, with the idea of going into real estate. With the collapse of the market he began working with a friend from home, Lori Wilkinson. He loved working with Lori and traveled to several places across the states doing digital photography at big events.
Back in Idaho he would travel to McDermitt to help out his dad, and split his time in Idaho and Nevada as a referee. He met his future wife Carmen (Woodburry), who convinced him to go into education and he enrolled at George Fox University in Eagle, Idaho, where he completed the program in 16 months, earning a master's in education.
He began teaching computer science at the Lone Star Middle School in Nampa, Idaho, where he coached football, girls and boys basketball, and high school softball.
Still at Lone Star, Rusty is now the Technology Department head and the yearbook editor. He has just finished an educational leadership course at Northwest Nazarene University, receiving an education specialist degree. (He only needs 30 credits, should he decide to go for a doctorate degree!)
Rusty and Carmen were married on July 25, 2009, and at that time Rusty inherited, not a step-daughter, but a daughter - 5-year -old Mia. Now eight years old, Mia became a proud big sister on August 30, 2010, when Camilla joined the family.
Rusty is involved in the Basque culture and coaches Mia's (who Basque dances) third-grade basketball team.
Carmen's parents, Anita and Doyle Gellerman, and Rusty's dad Chris and stepmother, Pepi (Laquerica), along with his brother, Kelsey, have continually been there to support Rusty and his family.
Rusty would someday be interested in being in administration, possibly as principal or vice-principal, perhaps even on the college level.
He is quick to say that nothing he has done since meeting Carmen would have been possible without her there to support him and take care of things, so that he could focus on school, teaching and coaching.
Rusty still team-ropes, likes to play cards, plays video games with his cousins, and due to the legacy from his Mom, loves to read.
He plays men's basketball and thinks he probably needs to learn to say "no" once in a while! Rusty says to the kids in McDermitt, "Take advantage of every opportunity and be involved. Work hard - you don't need to come from a big fancy school to be successful. Don't step out on the court or into the arena to lose - come to win! Be positive in every situation!"
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