PORT ANGELES — Three Clallam County residents will receive 2023 Community Service Awards on Thursday.
The three winners of the 2023 awards are Mike Dukes of Sekiu/Clallam Bay, Lloyd Eisenman of Port Angeles and Emily Westcott of Sequim.
The free ceremony will be at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at Chase and Lopez streets in Port Angeles. The evening will begin with a desert reception at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, with the program beginning at 7 p.m.
The awards, which are presented by the Peninsula Daily News and the Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Noon Club, recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the Clallam County community.
“The Clallam County Community Service Awards celebrate the hard work and dedication of those who give their time, energy and resources to make our communities stronger … and honor those making difference in the lives of others,” said Terry Ward, publisher of the Peninsula Daily News.
The recipients all have contributed mightily to their communities.
Mike Dukes
Dukes has served as Zone Chair for Clallam Bay-Sekiu, Crescent Bay, Forks, Port Angeles, Sequim Valley and Quilcene and was District Governor, serving almost 50 Lions Clubs, Vancouver Island and the North Olympic Peninsula.
Among his contributions are participating in rummage sales, firewood distributing, kids’ fishing derbies, beach cleanups, vision testing for school children and a variety of other community services.
Lloyd Eisenman
“Authentic, strong, selfless and grounded, volunteering his time and talents officially began 50 years ago, in 1973, when Lloyd joined the Port Angeles Kiwanis Club,” Brewer said.
“Lloyd is now 82 — and hasn’t stopped. He clocks 50 to 100 hours a month in volunteer work … including the hard physical labor of chopping, stacking and delivering firewood to raise money for community priorities.”
Hundreds of other community projects have involved the North Olympic Peninsula branch of the American Red Cross, Feiro Marine Life Center, Paint the Town, Camp Beausite Northwest, Big Spring Spruce-Up, Peninsula Dream Machines, Friendship Dinners, Kidsfest, Port Angeles High School carpentry class and PAHS sports awards,” Brewer said.
A long list of community members wrote letters of support for Eisenman’s nomination. They include PASD Superintendent Marty Brewer, Carl Lloyd Gay, retired CEO of First Fed Karen McCormick, Peninsula Dream Machine president Larry Morris, retired judge and former Community Service Award recipient S. Brooke Taylor and many others.
Emily Westcott
Westcott started the flower basket project in downtown Sequim in 1996 and volunteers on the boards of Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire — which she co-founded — Sequim Museum & Arts, Sequim Irrigation Festival — for which she has been a grand marshal and honorary pioneer — and Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce. She was the choice for the chamber’s 2004 citizen of the year
She volunteers with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula and the Shipley Center, wears a crab outfit for the the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, weeds public landscaping displays, and shares her love of flying with the local EAA Kids Days while donating flight certificates to charity auctions.
Westcott was the recipient in 2014 of the City of Sequim’s inaugural Westcott Award, which is presented annually to a city volunteer in recognition of exemplary service.
Former chamber directors Shelli Robb-Kahler and Vickie Maples; Sue Ellen Riesau, Radio Pacific general manager; and Andy Sallee, manager of the Sequim Valley Airport, are among the many who praised Westcott’s service to the community in letters of support for her nomination.
Several letters were from those who worked with her on her “weed patrol.” They all expressed gratitude for her friendship and support, with one describing her as “the ultimate volunteer.”
The three recipients were chosen from eight nominations by the judges, who were Port Angeles School Superintendent Marty Brewer; Phyllis Darling; Leslie Robertson, events coordinator for the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce; Danetta Rutten, Jet Set Soroptimist; Captain Crystal Stout, previous award winner; and Cherie Kidd, Soroptimist International of Port Angeles – Noon Club and a former award winner.
