PORT ANGELES — Seven community heroes will be honored with the Clallam County Community Service Award for 2010 on Thursday.
The award recipients are:
• Sue Nattinger and Coleman Byrnes (joint recipients), longtime hands-on, “no brag, just action” volunteers for Streamkeepers of Clallam County.
• Dan Wilder Sr., Port Angeles auto dealer and countywide community volunteer, educational leader and philanthropist.
• Roger Wheeler, a leader in youth baseball and basketball and the North Peninsula Building Association’s Future Builders program who has devoted countless hours of his own time to building parks and playgrounds.
• Susan Hillgren, who has worked tirelessly with Clallam County’s at-risk youth for more than 12 years.
• Don Stoneman who, at 79, volunteers thousands of hours of hard, physical labor to maintain and improve hiking trails in Clallam County.
• Joe Borden, “Mr. Irrigation Festival,” Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “go-to guy” and a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, attending funeral services and serving as a member of an honor guard for our fallen military heroes.
The Clallam County Community Service Award honors the “dedication, sacrifice and accomplishments” of community leaders and volunteers “who have made a difference in Clallam County, who have made our communities a better place by doing extraordinary things for their neighbors, their community or the environment.”
This is the 30th year of the award, begun by the Peninsula Daily News and now co-sponsored with Soroptimist International of Port Angeles (noon club).
The seven recipients of the 2010 Community Service Award will receive framed award certificates at a reception that begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the fellowship hall at First United Methodist and Congregational Church, 110 E. Seventh St., in Port Angeles.
The reception is open to the public and will include coffee and special desserts.
Admission is free.
A judging committee that included past Community Service Award recipients selected the seven from almost 30 nominations made by individuals, clubs, churches, businesses and other organizations.
“These are truly local heroes, working to make community life stronger, tighter, happier, richer — busy people who unselfishly give their time and energy to help others, who always seem to be able to make time to offer a hand or a shoulder,” said John Brewer, PDN editor and publisher.
Dan Wilder Sr.
“In reviewing the list of recipients since 1980, I was very surprised that Dan’s name is missing,” wrote Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor in a letter nominating Wilder for the 2010 award. (Taylor was a recipient of the award in 1999.)
“His contributions to this community are immense and ongoing, and should be recognized.”
Wilder has served as a member of the Peninsula College Board of Trustees, donates and raises money for scholarships and speaks to students about the importance of education.
Part of the benefits package at Wilder Auto Center and Wilder Toyota-Scion allows employees to send their children to Peninsula College for two years with paid tuition.
Wilder has served on the Olympic Medical Center Foundation board for 20 years and has sponsored the foundation’s well-known Great Olympic Duck Derby, supplying a Toyota truck to the top winner since 1989.
He has been on the Independent Bible Church elder board for almost 30 years and actively supports the Olympic Kidney Center board, the Peninsula College Foundation, Young Life and United Way.
Wilder was one of three finalists for the 2010 national Time magazine Dealer of the Year Award, which recognizes new car and truck dealers for exceptional performance in their dealerships and distinguished community service.
He was also picked as the Time Dealer of the Year for Washington state.
In 2009, Wilder received the Robert P. Mallon Dealer of the Year award from the Washington State Auto Dealers Association.
Susan Hillgren
A counselor for adolescents since 1998, she is the director of nonprofit TAFY — The Answer For Youth — drop-in youth center in Port Angeles, which provides warm meals, shelter and education for at-risk youth.
Hillgren is also a member of numerous community, school, business and church boards.
“I have been continuously impressed with her dedication, selflessness and, most especially, her absolute unconditional love for the youth of the Peninsula,” wrote David R. Hull, president of the board of Unity in the Olympics, a nondenominational Christian ministry based in Port Angeles, in a nomination letter for Hillgren.
“Susan has sacrificed her time, her job and her life to provide a safe and loving place for these ‘kids’ she so loves.”
Pam Fosnes, who works with Hillgren in TAFY, wrote a two-page, single-spaced letter listing Hillgren’s achievements.
“She has provided tutoring for GED completions, provided emergency money for food and prescriptions and bus tickets,” Fosnes noted.
“There have been a baby shower and birthday celebrations for youth who have said they haven’t had anyone celebrate their birthday in over 10 years!
“A clothes closet has been set up, and many warm clothes have been given away. . . . Susan’s time with TAFY is all nonpaid. [And] since TAFY is a non-profit organization, she actively works on getting donations for the center to be able to run.”
Joe Borden
A retired Army master sergeant and the chairman of the Sequim Irrigation Festival Committee for 14 years, Borden’s nomination came with a stack of endorsements from other volunteers, Irrigation Festival royalty, Sequim business leader Bill Littlejohn and others, including Vickie Maples, executive director of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve personally never known Joe to say ‘no,'” wrote Maples. Borden has been on the chamber’s board of directors since 2005.
“In fact, Joe Borden has an amazing ability to know when one is in need of help and be ready to help, often even before the one in need knows. We are truly blessed to have Joe in our community!”
In addition to Borden’s other volunteer work, Maples noted that Borden works quietly behind the scenes “with energy, hard work and leadership” every November on the installation of holiday lighting at the Bank of America Park in downtown Sequim.
Jean Wyatt, now in her fifth year with Borden on the Irrigation Festival Committee, wrote that “Sequim wouldn’t be the same without Joe Borden.”
She noted that “he was sought out to be a key member of the city of Sequim’s Centennial Committee” and that Borden “eagerly volunteered to help put that celebration together.”
Wrote Elisha Elliott, a 2009 Irrigation Festival princess:
“He makes us feel more than just volunteers — he makes us feel like family.”
Don Stoneman
Twelve people — park rangers, fellow volunteers, Forest Service and Park Service crew leaders and recreation managers — wrote detailed letters nominating Stoneman for his Community Service Award.
John Boles of Port Townsend serves with Stoneman on the Gray Wolf Trail Crew.
One of Stoneman’s favorite tools: a lumberjack’s long “misery saw.” He is also a master with a chain saw.
“It’s a joy to be in the woods with Don, learning how to respect the environment, improve the trails, accomplish what seems like impossible tasks (such as moving a log about 45 feet long and 28 inches in diameter out its resting place in the woods and placing it across a cascading creek),” wrote Boles.
Wrote Daniel Collins, regional coordinator of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association:
“Don is not a young man at 79 years, but he has a young man’s energy and two generations of skill in working with wood.
“. . . In the spring time, he will lead the Gray Wolf Trail Crew on weekly trips into the U.S. forests or [Olympic] National Park for hard, physical trail work.
“None of his time and expenses are reimbursed, and yet he feels grateful for having the opportunity to work in these areas. . . . He embodies a kind of servant-leadership that is rarely found.”
From a letter by Richard Tipps in Sequim: “His skill, hard work and love of the outdoors have been a key to keeping numerous trails open and safe for innumerable users.”
Roger Wheeler
Working on a park or ball field? Wheeler will probably show up with a bulldozer to help.
“Roger Wheeler is all about community,” wrote Tracy Gudgel, 2010 president of the North Peninsula Building Association.
Wheeler, owner of RJ Services Inc. in Port Angeles, was twice president of this group, helped found Future Builders and serves on a number of NPBA committees.
“Even before his children became a guiding part of his life, Roger donated countless hours while simultaneously building his excavating business,” said Gudgel.
“Whether it’s helping with baseball, basketball or building parks and playgrounds, Roger is there.
“If help is needed to move the earth, Roger makes sure it gets done and done right.”
Wheeler donated heavy equipment to help create Valley Creek Estuary Park in downtown Port Angeles. Then he and his wife sponsored one of the light standards there.
Later, he helped move a huge monument boulder to the waterfront from Lauridsen Boulevard.
Wheeler “gives of himself and the use of his business . . . for the betterment of our town and the environment,” wrote Scott Schwagler of J&J Construction of Port Angeles Inc.
Wrote Kevin Russell of Clawson Construction LLC of Port Angeles:
“Roger epitomizes the award. He is always the first person to step up and help in the community.”
Sue Nattinger and Coleman Byrnes
Their nomination by Ed Chadd, coordinator of Streamkeepers of Clallam County, was accompanied by a stack of supporting letters and newspaper clippings.
Included was a 2005 article about the couple’s home and 5-acre parcel on Salt Creek west of Port Angeles being placed by them into a conservation easement with the North Olympic Land Trust.
“The couple, who are all about ‘no brag, just action,’ exemplify service to those who have no voice to speak for themselves — the animals and plants of our natural surroundings,” wrote Chadd.
“They utilize practically all of their free time to help protect the wonderful natural legacy of the North Olympic Peninsula, in a variety of venues.”
In addition to Streamkeepers, they volunteer for projects in Olympic National Park and for a number of other groups, including the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and North Olympic Salmon Coalition.
They pick up trash; do water-quality studies; remove noxious weeds; study birds, including the endangered marbled murrelet; help restore salmon to area creeks; document steelhead runs; and survey bull trout populations.
“In all of these endeavors, Sue and Coleman demonstrate dedication, good humor, patience and a burning curiosity about the wonders of nature, which they hope to preserve for future generations,” wrote Chadd.
