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Quilts bring former Ambassador to Sisters
By Craig F. Eisenbeis

The High Desert Forum is known for bringing top-notch speakers to Central Oregon, but Sisters' reputation for quilting may have an influence, too.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Oman, David J. Dunford, was in Central Oregon last week to address the Forum, but most of his time was spent in Sisters.

"My wife, Sandy, is a quilter," Dunford explained, "so we've been to Sisters before."

The Forum's Executive Director, Bruce Bishop, confirmed that staying in Sisters was part of the deal for getting the Dunfords to Central Oregon for the speaking engagement.

"When I invited him to speak at the Forum, practically the first thing out of his mouth was 'Can we stay in Sisters?'"

Ambassador Dunford served in Ecuador, Finland, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia prior to being named Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman.

He was acting Ambassador in Saudi Arabia for the two years leading up to his appointment in Oman.

The Dunfords were stationed in Saudi Arabia when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and Desert Storm blew across the region.

That's when Sandy Dunford took up quilting.

A friend encouraged her to begin, and they ended up distributing their quilts to some of the soldiers.

Dunford retired from foreign service in 1995 and settled in Arizona.

He observed that, following September 11, his service in Arabic countries suddenly brought him to the attention of every newspaper and news agency in Arizona.

He commented that "this is my first chance to take my show on the road," and added that he was pleased to be in Central Oregon again.

Not surprisingly, it was Sandy who was responsible for their earlier visit to Sisters. She explained that they had been on their way to Idaho, but Sisters was a mandatory detour.

"I'd heard of the quilt shop maybe four years ago, and I wanted to come to the shop," she said. "I loved it, and Jean Wells was wonderful. Then I saw all the posters and learned about the quilt show, which -- unfortunately -- had just passed."

She said she knew then that she'd be back.

"I'm coming back again for the Quilt Show," Sandy said. "I should have made my reservation back then. The first time I could get a reservation (at Conklin's Guest House) during the Quilt Show is two years from now, but I'm coming back."

The Ambassador, who is an avid bird watcher, seemed equally smitten with Sisters and spent some of his time birding in the area.

During his stay, he managed to get hooked up with The Nugget's nature writer, Jim Anderson, but horrible weather doomed Dunford's goal of seeing a white-headed woodpecker.

Actually, in comments made before the Dunfords' departure, it sounded as if bird watching might bring them back to Sisters before the 2004 Quilt Show.

Still, quilts were responsible for getting them here in the first place.

When Dunford spoke to the Forum last Wednesday night, however, birds and quilts were nowhere on the agenda. Instead, the subject was "The Middle East: Is There Any Hope?"

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