PORT ANGELES — The Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Jet Set recently held its Women of Distinction award breakfast at the Port Angeles Senior Center to honor 2010-11 award recipients.
The award, usually reserved for Women of Distinction, also honored Ken Simpson as a“Gentleman of Distinction” as part of a team including Heidi Simpson and Lori Gray.
Other recipients were Darlene Jones, Shirley Waters Nixon and Cheryl Thomas.
Ski trio praised
The Simpsons, along with Gray, were honored for years of oversight of the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club Ski School.
This organization has provided training and ski/snowboarding lessons for children at Hurricane Ridge for six weeks on winter weekends for about 15 years.
Gray ran the school by herself for years; then the Simpsons stepped in for five years.
They have all worked as a team the last few years, each bringing special skills, knowledge and community connections.
Heidi Simpson has led the administrative part of the program as well as serving as bookkeeper for the larger club.
She handles sign-ups, the ticket trailer at Hurricane Ridge, answers questions from parents and makes sure kids are taken care of in the warm-up trailer and jumps in to teach in needed.
Gray and Ken Simpson organize and train instructors for the classes, as well as teach classes themselves.
They make sure the students are getting the attention they need and make adjustments in lessons when students need extra help.
Jones lauded
Jones was recognized for her promotion of literacy in the Port Angeles community.
She worked for more than 20 years for the Port Angeles School District, starting as a first-grade teacher and then teaching Title I reading.
Jones started a program at Jefferson Elementary called “ET” (Extra Tutors) that provided volunteers to come in for one to two hours a day to listen to children read for 15-minute increments.
This model was adapted throughout the school district to help improve reading skills of children having difficulty reading.
While at Jefferson, she started a reading contest that required children to read 15 minutes per evening with parents. Students received tickets for a drawing for prizes.
This contest has been expanded, and Jones promotes it as part of the Clallam County Literacy council.
For the past 10-plus years, Jones has also served on the board of directors of the First Step Family Support Center.
She is also active with the Clallam County Retired Teachers organization.
Another main focus is facilitating the Parkinson’s group that meets twice a month at Laurel Park.
Waters Nixon has dedicated her career to balanced environmental resource management and citizen education.
After law career
After a career in law, she now volunteers with the Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Peninsula College, Western Washington University and local planning forums.
Her specialties are water law and policy from a public interest/resource protection perspective, environmental law, marine law and international law of the sea, public trust doctrine and advocacy for open government.
Since 1985, Thomas has been a volunteer member of the Puget Sound Blood Bank Community Council for Port Angeles.
Her major tasks have been scheduling council meetings, promoting blood drives, setting up signs, arranging certificates for outstanding donors and obtaining donations from local restaurants to feed blood center staff.
