ENTERPRISE — How often do you find a rodeo queen willing and eager to get up to her elbows in engine grease?

How often do you even find a female diesel mechanic?

Well, Quincee Zacharias is one and hopes to continue as one long past her stint as Chief Joseph Days queen this year.

Enjoys her job

“I really enjoy my job,” she said. “Nine times out of 10, I go home dirtier than I originally intended upon.”

Zacharias works for Craig and Candi Willis at Farm Supply in Enterprise moving pipes, detailing the trucks, doing brake jobs and working on hubs. In fact, there’s little — if anything — that her gender keeps her from doing as a mechanic.

She said she did a school project about her job and learned that about 3% of all diesel mechanics are female.

“It’s a pretty rare find to find one who’s actually in that industry,” she said. “It’s great. I definitely don’t want to say that I can do everything a guy can in the shop, but I can find ways to get it done.”

For example, she may not be able to lift an engine block by herself, but she knows how to get one moved with a dolly.

She said her brother, Triston, works with her at Farm Supply. He dad, Luke, keeps his hand in (the grease) as a log truck driver who must know how to repair his vehicle.

Other family members are well-known in Wallowa County. Her uncle, Jim Zacharias, owns JayZee Lumber in Joseph and her great-grandfather, Bob Zacharias, owns and operates Zacharias Logging.

“It’s been in my family for four or five generations,” she said of diesel work and the timber industry.

Zacharias said there are no other women who work in the shop at Farm Supply, though she has met a couple of women “on the rodeo road” who are certified welders.

The 18-year-old will graduate from Enterprise High School next year and after that, she has plans to continue her profession in one way or another.

She said she may attend trade school in diesel mechanics or work for Farm Supply for a couple of years “and learn all I can” before branching out.

“That’s still up in the air,” she said. “If I get my certification as a diesel mechanic, I can do a lot with that at Farm Supply or other places, but I do want to be a diesel mechanic.”

Sole CJD candidate

Unusually, Zacharias was the lone candidate for this year’s CJD court. But the CJD royalty experience has become a family tradition.

Her sister, Maggie, was last year’s queen and their aunt, Shilo Zacharias, was queen in 2000.

Quincee said she believes the demands of the time one must dedicate to being a member of the court have driven some girls away from trying out.

But she finds it worth it.

“I just want to go around and tell them how much fun we have and how it’s fun taking care of our animals,” she said. “I just tell them that it’s worth it because you’re not going to get another experience to travel like this … with other girls down the ‘rodeo road’ and this day and age, there’s a lot of girls who do want to do it and there’s also a lot who don’t — and I can understand both sides of it. It’s definitely worth their time to try because you get some pretty cool experiences from it and it gets you out of your comfort zone. It’s something you can enjoy and do throughout your summer.”

Zacharias said she enjoys getting out of her own comfort zone, particularly with the travel. As CJD queen, she puts in appearances all over Oregon, as well as to the Lewiston (Idaho) Roundup and the county fairs in Asotin and Walla Walla, Washington.

But it can be challenging.

“It takes a lot of time out of your summer, going to rodeos and other events,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind it, but it does take a lot of time — and when you also have a job and you’ve got to take care of horses and everything else, it’s tough to get around to all the rodeo stuff. But luckily I have a good support system.”

That support system consists of her parents, Luke and Marilee, her siblings and other relatives and her bosses, the Willises.

• Check out today’s B section for much more coverage of Chief Joseph Days. 

• Also, learn more about trick roper Loop Rawlins, scheduled to perform all four nights at the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo, on Page A17.