Taryn Minthorn

Taryn Terese Minthorn, of Pendleton, Oregon, passed away on October 22, 2021 in Pendleton. Taryn was born on August 27, 1978 to Marceline Quaempts-Hoptowit and Larry Minthorn. She was an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. She attended school in Pendleton and Athena. Graduating from Weston McEwen with the class of 1996. She was a letterman athlete in volleyball and basketball. She started playing sports young and knew every sport. For fun she played city-league softball. She watched SportsCenter daily and her favorite sport of all time was baseball. Her favorite teams were the Yankees, Mariners, Braves and Red Sox. After high school she attended Blue Mountain Community College for a time and worked at Wildhorse Resort Casino. In 2007 she started work with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Human Resources as a Generalist in a trainee position. In 2010 she was hired as the tribe’s Benefits Coordinator/ Records Specialist where she worked until 2019. In her time there, she earned an accreditation to the Tribal Human Resources Professionals. Taryn was a mother to four children: Chenoah, Jonathan, Jayden and Chaynne. All of her children are student-athletes and she was very proud of that. She coordinated game and practice schedules, AAU tournaments and everything else in between. She attended almost every single one of the kids’ games. Many of the highlights of her life were wrapped up with sports and her children, including traveling to San Berndadino to watch her daughter play in the Little League Softball World Series. Taryn was truly beautiful, inside and out. Her friends and family will remember her for her honesty, humor, her activism for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, her fierce mama bear spirit, and for always speaking her mind. She loved her family. She was a loyal and trusted friend to many and words cannot express how much she’ll be missed. Taryn is preceded in death by her mother, Marceline Quaempts-Hoptowit. She is survived by her father Larry Minthorn, stepfather Anthony Hoptowit, sisters Talia (Ryan) McLaughlin and Nicole Minthorn, brothers Tysen (Beth) Minthorn, and Jesse Minthorn Sr., companion Jim Sproed, daughter Chenoah (Brian) Begay of Kennewick, Wa., sons Jonathan Begay and Jayden Minthorn, and daughter Chaynne Spencer, all of Pendleton, Or. , granddaughter Isabella Gutierrez of Kennewick, Wa., nephew Breyon Minthorn, and nieces Dakota and Paisley McLaughlin all of Pendleton, Or.