SEQUIM — Things are looking up for the Sequim Senior Activity Center: up toward a piece of prime real estate the center’s director, Michael Smith, purchased this spring for $218,542.81.
Smith and numerous members of the senior center had fresh cause for celebration just before the holiday weekend.
It came in the form of R. Leo Shipley’s check for $218,542.81 — to cover exactly what the land cost and to preclude any debt payments for the center.
Shipley, 83, had been talking with Smith for months now about plans to expand Sequim’s facility for senior-friendly classes, get-togethers and scores of other activities.
At the existing 10,000-square-foot Sequim Senior Activity Center at 921 E. Hammond St., the board of directors and some 1,500 members are thinking ahead, to an ultramodern, 20,000-square-foot center above U.S. Highway 101.
And ever since April 28, when Smith bought a 4.48-acre parcel north of the highway between Lofgrin and Simdars roads, that vision has been growing more real.
Shipley, a retired schoolteacher and developer from Oklahoma, has long supported the senior center, Smith said.
But the latest check is the largest amount he’s given — and along with it, Shipley offered words of encouragement to his fellow seniors during their Independence Day weekend barbecue Friday.
“When you come into Sequim, when you crest that hill, that’s where the rain stops and the sun shines,” he told the crowd of 100.
There’s a sweet serendipity up on the hill he spoke about: The property that was to become the North Peninsula Rest Area was instead sold to the senior center for a song: $1.12 per square foot.
It happened this way because after vehement opposition to the rest-stop plans from surrounding neighbors, the state Department of Transportation opted to rid itself of the parcel.
Instead, Clallam County plans to build a rest area near the Morse Creek viewpoint off Highway 101 just west of Port Angeles.
When asked what inspired his gift to the center, Shipley talked about his discovery of Sequim in 1973. He had occasion back then to drive to Seattle a lot, into countless rainstorms.
But each time he returned to the Dungeness Valley, he recalls, the sun was shining for him.
Shipley, today the owner and operator of the Baywood Village manufactured-home community east of Sequim, added that he’s “been somewhat successful, at least in terms of money.”
He’s “getting up in years,” and “would kind of like to know what happens to my assets after my demise.”
His son is deceased, so Shipley decided to leave a legacy for the people of Sequim.
Smith, at the same time, emphasized that many other senior center members are making generous donations toward the new center, even as its construction won’t start for at least five years.
Some 200 contributions of all sizes — from a dollar to $10,000, Smith noted — will build the next generation’s senior center.
In addition to Shipley’s check, nearly $74,000 in donations have poured in since April.
The capital campaign continues, Smith said, with grant applications and requests for support from businesses, foundations and regular people.
Each donor, unless he or she chooses anonymity, will have his or her name listed on the new building.
At Friday’s barbecue, senior center supporters lined up to shake Shipley’s hand, Smith said.
Shipley left them with another bit of advice.
“Think big,” he said, “and dream big, big, big.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
