story by Ruth Nicolaus
Attention to detail, structure, and staying out of the spotlight are traits of Heather Paradis, whether it’s in her regular job or as a volunteer with the Idaho Cowboys Association.
The Council, Idaho woman serves as a committee director on the ICA board and is a rodeo secretary as well.
Her career job is working as a biomedical engineer for a dialysis provider.
She did not grow up around rodeo, but in college, majoring in sports medicine, she did some rounds with college rodeo teams as a sports medicine trainer. It didn’t take long till she loved the sport. She appreciated the toughness and grit the contestants had.
When her kids, son Bonner, who is 21, and daughter Jordan, age 19, began rodeo, they started with the ICA, Bonner riding junior bulls and Jordan as a barrel racer.
She and husband Michael got involved with their local rodeo, the Adams County Rodeo in Council, the third weekend of July.
And it snowballed from there.
She has served as a committee director for the ICA for several years and is also a rodeo secretary.
As committee director, her job is to represent the committees and vote on their behalf. It’s important that the committees have a say in decisions that are made, she believes. “Because without committees, there are no rodeos and the contestants don’t have a place to go.”
As a rodeo secretary, she works mainly ICA events but does others as well. It’s a job that can be stressful but is fun and rewarding, too. As secretary, “you’re the one holding everything together,” Heather said. “I think it’s imperative that the secretary understands how things work, and my involvement with the ICA helps. I know the ins and outs, and I know the contestants, the contractors, the announcers. There’s a familiarity there, when you’re behind the desk.”
Both of her rodeo roles, plus her “real” job, require attention to detail, which involves her “engineering brain.”
As a biomedical engineer, she travels for a company that covers 22 states, from coast to coast. Most of the dialysis systems she works on are in correctional institutions, like prisons or hospitals. Being in that type of institution is “eye-opening, yet rewarding, because we are able to provide a service to an underserved market.”
Making sure things run smoothly is part of her nature, and especially important in the dialysis world.
“I like to make sure things work properly,” Heather said. “It’s important, because (dialysis) is a lifesaving procedure for people.”
She jokingly accuses Kevin Henson for her kids’ involvement in rodeo. “I blame Kevin,” she laughed. It started with Bonner as a bull rider, and then Jordan decided she wanted to run barrels. “She fell in love with horses and now it costs me a lot of money.”
In her spare time, Heather likes to be outdoors with her family and hunt and fish.
She and Michael have been married for 20 years. She holds an ICA gold card.
