SEQUIM — Agony could be coming soon.
Past Sequim Citizen of the Year honorees will be given the difficult task of choosing one of three inspirational people, and present the 2009 Citizen award on Feb. 23 during the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Three finalists, chosen from a pool of nominees, were announced this week: Joe Borden, orchestrator of the Sequim Irrigation Festival; Cynthia Martin, founder of Parenting Matters and the First Teacher resource center for families; and Tom Schaafsma, the carpenter and Rotary Club member who helped build Olympic Theatre Arts’ stages and raised record-breaking donations for ShelterBox USA.
The selection committee is made up of past honorees, including 2008’s Walt and Sherry Schubert, while the award, first presented in 1967, is simply a plaque with no monetary prize attached.
Schaafsma
Schaafsma, 61, said he was “blindsided” by the news that he’s a finalist.
“Joe and Cynthia are great company to be in,” he added.
Schaafsma calls himself semiretired, but has been busy working on a variety of projects: helping finish OTA’s gathering hall and main stage, and raising money with fellow Rotarian Jim Pickett for ShelterBoxes, kits with tents, cooking equipment and other basics for disaster-stricken places around the globe.
Schaafsma and Pickett were the top fundraisers in the country for ShelterBox USA last year, bringing in $64,000; Schaafsma has also traveled to Peru, Mexico and Honduras with the ShelterBox Response Team.
He and his wife of 36 years, Jacque, have four grown children, and returned a few weeks ago from a trip to Colombia, where they helped their son, Torin, 25, build a playground.
Torin is part of the Mennonite Central Committee’s Peace Corps-like mission in rural Colombia.
Back home last Friday night, Schaafsma enjoyed the long-awaited debut of OTA’s main stage.
“It was really gratifying,” he said, “to see that come to fruition.”
Martin
Martin, 73, has eight grown children, plus countless others whose parents have read the newsletters she creates.
Martin started the Parenting Matters Foundation of Clallam County 20 years ago, soon after she moved to Sequim from La Jolla, Calif.
In her former life, she was a clinical psychologist who worked with adoptive families; she’s the author of Beating the Adoption Odds, a book on the adoption process.
When Martin “retired,” she began working full time as a volunteer for her foundation, developing newsletters, activities and Sequim’s First Teacher resource center for parents with preschoolers.
“It’s been really rewarding. I’ve learned a lot,” she said, adding that she and David, her husband of 51 years, joke that they could have used all of this learning when they first became parents.
And though Martin often works more than 40 unpaid hours per week, she and David hold tight to a tradition: going out to lunch together each day.
Borden
Borden is also “retired,” having moved to Sequim 23 years ago. He was just 41, and had spent the past 20 years in the military.
He and Tawana, whom he’s now been married to for four decades, bought their first house here.
Borden ran the Sequim CarQuest auto parts store until he decided to retire again in 2007; the store closed when he resigned.
Fifteen years ago, he was invited to an Irrigation Festival planning meeting; he’s been part of the event ever since, and has been chairman for five years.
“I love this community to death,” said Borden, now 64.
In addition to his festival work, he serves on seven Sequim chamber committees. As a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, he rides his motorcycle to the funerals of fallen service members, police officers and other public servants.
Early in any conversation, Borden salutes his closest compatriot.
“Without Tawana, I couldn’t do any of this,” he said.
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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.
