PORT ANGELES – John Summers had not met Dick and Marie Goin of Port Angeles until last week, when he interviewed the couple to prepare to present them with a 2007 Clallam County Community Service Award.
Summers, who won the service award with his wife Anne-Marie in 2003, said one thing became clear – the Goins are kind, generous people, unencumbered by ego.
“They don’t call it community service. They saw what needed to be done,” Summers said at Friday night’s awards ceremonies.
“That’s just the kind of people they are.”
The Goins were two of six people – two couples and two individuals – chosen to receive this year’s award, which is sponsored by the Peninsula Daily News and the Soroptimist International Port Angeles-Noon club.
Also honored were Orville Campbell for his longtime service to community and environmental planning; Kathleen and Lambert “Bal” Balducci for their commitment to the cultural vivacity of the county; and Jim Pickett, an omnipresent part of Sequim’s network of community and service organizations.
Friday was “a night about community, heroism and how community and heroism come together,” said John Brewer, PDN publisher and editor.
“To me the award recipients are inspirational in both spirit and deed, heroic in the most untrivalized sense of the word.
“They are human beings of dimension and flaw, who have tried very hard, who have reaped rewards and accepted the costs.”
The recipients spoke about selfless service and dedication – how they felt they had gained more from their actions than they have given.
