Restoring the Morrow County Courthouse Clock: An Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution Clock-Making Trade School Project

Abstract

Gary L. Kopperud began training under his father at age ten to become a clock maker, which led to a lifelong involvement in the trade. In 1997 he started an informal trade school at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (EOCI), transporting his own tools and equipment to teach inmates clock-making skills. Since it began, the trade school has trained fifty-one men, many of whom have entered the clock-making trade. According to Kopperud, “none of them have re-offended or returned to prison.” In 2014, EOCI inmates worked with Kopperud to restore the clock tower at the Morrow County Courthouse, a project that received a 2015 Oregon Heritage Excellence Award from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.