Whether he’s riding Whiskey the horse, drinking beer, cutting hay or watching baseball on his ranch northeast of Redmond, Gerald “Pinky” Christopher can do it all. Even as he prepares for his 90th birthday.

Christopher will celebrate the event Sept. 28, with nearly 50 family and friends expected to attend. The birthday bash will celebrate Christopher’s 90 years and especially the connections made in Redmond since he moved there in 1935.

“Been here as long as the dirt,” he said.

Christopher was born in Kansas and moved to Oregon with his family when he was just a year old. He said his parents wanted “to move somewhere wetter” than the Midwest plains and decided on Elmira, in eastern Lane County. Eventually, the family relocated to Redmond when Pinky was in high school. Since then, he’s become part of the community.

“I’ve been present in about everything in the neighborhood around here,” Christopher said.

Christopher spent his entire life around horses and cattle. He ran three different cattle ranches in the Tumalo area before settling down on his current 22-acre spread between Redmond and Smith Rick.

Christopher does the daily chores, no matter the heat or snow. He also always wears his cowboy boots, hat, blue jeans and his engraved “Pinky” belt. He feeds the horse, Whiskey, as well as nine cows and two cowdogs named Billy and Buddy. He likes to keep busy, whether that’s moving hay, fixing fences or mowing the lawn.

Christopher bought his ranch with his second wife, Judy, but now lives there alone, as she died two years ago.

He was just as active in his younger years. In high school, Christopher played baseball and football and was one of two men on the cheer team at Elmira High.

“It was probably the first time they ever had boy cheerleaders,” Christopher said.

He got the nickname “Pinky” in elementary school because Christopher was one out of two red-headed boys in his grade. They called Christopher “Pinky” and the other boy “Red.”

His time leading cheers on the sidelines got Christopher fascinated with entertaining crowds. He soon started a 30-year career of rodeo clowning. Christopher distracted animals to help the riders get settled as a “bullfighter” and he also entertained the crowd between events.

He worked rodeos in Redmond, Sisters, Yoncalla, Prineville, in the Willamette Valley and even some in Washington.

“It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of good people and made a lot of kids happy that weren’t bumming mom and dad for a quarter for a pop,” Christopher said.

It was a tougher job then than it is now.

“When you’re going to a rodeo nowadays, you got four or five guys with mics doing it. Dad did all of that himself. He jumped in the barrel. He told jokes,” said his son, Ron Christopher.

Pinky said he’s happy there are more hands on deck at rodeos today and that makes it “a lot better for the cowboys.” He said if a clown got hurt, “that was kind of it.” But today, it’s a lot safer with more people in the arena. Christopher had no major injuries when he was a rodeo clown.

Christopher also spent decades in the Central Oregon Quarter Horse Association and the Central Oregon Cutting Horse Association. He volunteered as firefighter. He also welded for Cascade Natural Gas for 20 years and even ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1988.

A lot has changed over the decades in Redmond — and not all for the better, in Christopher’s eyes.

“Redmond ain’t my Redmond anymore,” Christopher said, pointing out the new apartments and buildings that are “sucking all the water out.”

However, he did say Walmart and Fred Meyer helped supply the farm town with more resources. When he came to Redmond, the population was less than 1,000, Christopher said.

In his coming years, Christopher plans on keeping busy on his ranch and spending time with his two kids, six grandkids and three great grandkids.

“I didn’t think I was going to turn 90,” Christopher said. “I’m glad to be here and able to join my kids and grandkids.”