SEQUIM — If you don’t know her, you’ve likely seen Emily Westcott hard at work.
After decades of beautifying Sequim and bringing a holiday spirit to town, Westcott was recognized with a proclamation during the a city council meeting on Nov. 10 by Deputy Mayor Rachel Anderson.
“(This honor is) really great,” Westcott said during a standing ovation of audience members, city staff and elected officials. “It makes a person really feel good and enjoy what they’re doing.”
Westcott’s efforts have made Sequim a better place for all its residents and visitors, according to the city’s proclamation.
During her time in Sequim, she has a laundry list of accomplishments.
Westcott helped start Sequim’s flower basket program in 1996, and she recently turned full operations over to the city as a continued partnership with Sequim School District.
The program now boasts about 150 baskets annually along Washington Street from June to October with hundreds of high school students helping to cultivate the baskets.
Westcott contributes hundreds of volunteer hours planting flowers, weeding, mowing and maintaining business, residential and school yards with assistance from community members to fulfill service hours, according to the city’s proclamation.
During the proclamation reading, Westcott shared a few different stories, including cleanup efforts along Spruce Street.
Westcott said she’d stop at people’s doors and tell them she was with the chamber of commerce and they had been chosen for their “curb appeal,” when in fact they were people who hadn’t mowed their lawn for a year.
Initially, Westcott joked she had friends help her on projects, and then not so many friends, so she turned to working with people in need of community service.
“(It) has worked out really well,” she said.
Christmas time
For 25 years, Westcott has helped orchestrate the installation and fundraising for downtown Sequim Christmas decorations, with funds partially coming from flower basket sponsorships.
The city’s proclamation states “her successful collaborations have earned her the trust and support of the City of Sequim, allowing her to execute large projects such as cutting and installing the downtown Christmas tree with assistance from Public Works.”
In a previous interview, Westcott said she will continue to decorate portions of downtown Sequim with volunteers and continues to seek contributions to replace lights and add decorations.
To make a tax-deductible donation through the chamber of commerce, call Westcott at 360-670-6294.
Educational opportunities
Westcott, a Tacoma native, said she taught through the Department of Corrections school in Centralia for 10 years before she moved to Clallam County in 1979 to work as a vice principal at Port Angeles High School.
“I love Sequim,” she said. “ I’m from a bigger city and it’s really fun to move to a small city and be here.”
She owned in partnership or as the sole proprietor the Sequim Red Ranch Inn and Restaurant from the 1980s to 2003.
Along with her volunteer efforts, continuing to fly her private plane and co-organizing the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-in, Westcott continues to teach as a substitute in Sequim schools. She said her students know why she continues to teach — “as long as I’m flying that airplane, I’ll be here.”
In 2014, the city of Sequim started the Westcott Award in recognition of exemplary volunteer service with Westcott the first recipient. She also was named the Sequim Citizen of the Year through the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2004.
“I hope that in even 10 years I have as much fire as you do, so thank you so, so much for everything you do for the community,” Anderson told Westcott.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
