Biography

On March 19, 1956 our Founding Fathers filed to do business as the Grants Pass Contractors Association as a non-profit organization. The officers at that time were:

Clark Cummings President Jay Cooke Vice President Doran Taylor Sec/Treasurer

  On April 25, 1966 the association became an affiliate with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and changed the name to the Home Builders Association of Josephine County. The association comprised of 15 builder members and 35 associate members. The officers then were:

Earl Kellenbeck President Bud Ballinger Vice President Bert West Secretary L.W. "Slim" Grimes Treasurer Henry Stach Immed. Past Pres

Including the officers, the charter members of the association were:

John Amberg Builder Bud Ballinger Builder Rowland Barker US National Bank Homer Browner Browner's Well Drilling Dave Canaga Three C's Lumber Dale Clark Jackson County Fed. Savings Dale Cook Independent Heating Co.  Robert Copeland Copeland Paving, Inc. Jim DeCourcey Josephine County Title Buster Fenner Builder Bob Fuhrmeister Bob's Paint & Glass, Inc. Dwight Griesel Drywall Contractor L.W. Grimes Kitchen Center John Hammons Cabax Mills John Harris H & H Equipment Rentals Virgil Hendrix Builder John Inkrote Inkrote Floors Delbert Ivie Del's Electric Clark Johnson Town & Country Homes Ewald Kehr Builder Earl Kellenbeck Builder Oran Kellenbeck Kellenbeck's Custom Heating Fred Knippert Masonry Co. Ken Krois Krois Bros Drywall Ed Kruger Carpet Installation Service Oage Larsen Builder Louis Lawless Lawless & Davidson Roofing Vern Lowe Home Planting Service Neil Moore Building Contractor George Overacker Quality Plumbing Kenny Paquin Paquin Water Well Drilling Gary Peterson Peterson Excavating Jens Peterson First Federal Savings & Loan L.A. Prulhiere Colonial Upholstery Ed Reed Rogue River Hardware Dallas Reeder Builder Joe Ring Ceramic Tile Contracting Keith Rowland Grants Pass Ready Mix Harold Skudstad Cascade Block Denver Small Painting Contractor Jerry Sommer Construction Rolf Sommer Building Contractor Kerne Spears Caveman Lumber Company Henry Stach Stach Construction Co. Doran Taylor Building Contractor Bert West Bert's Plumbing Johh West Southern Oregon Lumber Dist. Dwayne Whitlatch Oregon Title Insurance Co. Bill Wrightson First National Bank

  In March of 2006, we threw ourselves a "50th Party", invited all the membership, founding fathers, some dignitaries, and had over 100 in attendance. The North Valley High School Swing Choir entertained our group. Our OHBA executive officer Jon Chandler was our master of ceremonies.