Sequim chamber selects Hatlers, Lepping for Citizen of Year finalists

RSVP today for luncheon Tuesday

Clare Hatler

Clare Hatler

SEQUIM — A couple with ties to the region’s most documented archaeological find and an advocate for people with disabilities are finalists for Sequim’s top civic award.

A committee of former award winners have nominated two finalists for the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Citizen of the Year award: Clare Manis Hatler and Don Hatler (as a joint nomination), and Nicole Lepping.

Clare Hatler

Clare Hatler

The nominees will be honored at the chamber’s annual award luncheon, set for 11:45 a.m. Tuesday at the Guy Cole Event Center at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave.

The community is invited to the event. Cost for lunch is $22 for chamber members, $25 for non-members, or $5 for coffee/tea only.

A lunch RSVP is required by noon today.

Don Hatler

Don Hatler

Call 360-682-6197 or email to office@sequim chamber.com, or register online at sequimchamber wa.chambermaster.com/eventregistration/register/ 7594.

In the summer of 1977, Clare and Manny Manis made world headlines and “put Sequim on the world map” when they turned up the skeletal remains of a mastodon in their backyard.

Nicole Lepping

Nicole Lepping

For the next eight years, the Manis family opened the property to people from around the world to visit the site and watch the archaeological work taking place; it became a major U.S. tourist attraction. A recent study of the Manis mastodon provided proof of the oldest human settlement found to date in the Americas.

The mastodon, through the Manis’ generosity, remains in Sequim, partially reconstructed as part of a large exhibit at Sequim Museum & Arts — a cornerstone exhibit at the museum’s exhibit center for years.

Clare’s other community projects since then have included participation as a charter member of the Dungeness River Audubon Center founding board, serving as its nonprofit treasurer for many years; a long-time member and officer of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society Board, and working with the Washington Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which resulted in the 1915 Railroad Bridge being placed in the National Register of Historic Places.

She has also served in board positions and as a long-time member of the Clallam County League of Women Voters and Sequim Museum & Arts. Before that, she worked as a tool designer and graphic artist. After Manny died, Clare married Don Hatler in 2001.

Since Don’s retirement to Sequim in 1997, he has played a major role in helping to manage an important community resource: water.

Don has volunteered on several boards and committees to preserve the Dungeness Watershed, including the Clallam Conservation District’s board of supervisors, Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Peninsula Chapter, and the Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT) representing sports fisheries.

He also served on the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee.

Before retiring and moving to Sequim, Don was involved in real estate, was a business broker, and owned a marina and sailboat dealership.

Lepping is a former special education teacher who worked with mobility-challenged children.

At the end of 2017 she saw a video demonstrating use of a specially designed wheelchair bicycle used to provide a way for any mobility challenged person to be given a ride on a bicycle.

Recognizing Sequim was an ideal location for such a service — with its demographic of older individuals and the widely-used Olympic Discovery Trail for bikes — she applied for and was granted nonprofit status for Sequim Wheelers.

In February and March, Lepping began contacting and meeting with individuals and groups in the community to raise funds to buy a wheelchair bicycle. She saw an outpouring of support from both individuals and community groups to purchase the $9,000 bike, sufficient to purchase the first bike with delivery in April.

Lepping set up a board of directors for the nonprofit. She and another board member traveled (at their own expense) to meet with the Portland Wheelers, in Portland, Me., for training and an exchange of ideas.

Determined that the Sequim program would be free-of-charge to all who wanted a ride, Lepping began seeking volunteer riders and by late spring training on the bike and safety training for riders began.

The official program launched the first week of July 2018, and during the following 15 weeks the Sequim Wheelers provided 90 wheelchair bicycle rides to people in Sequim — some from local assisted living facilities.

More than 25 volunteers gave rides during the summer season.

Through continuing contributions, grants and a large donation from one person to the Sequim Wheelers program, a second wheelchair bike has been ordered for use in 2019.

More in News

Port Angeles teachers’ union votes to honor paraeducators’ picket line on April 8

Members of the Port Angeles Education Association voted overwhelmingly… Continue reading

Funding needed for Port Townsend homeless shelter

Operation at Legion Hall to close April 30

Port of Port Angeles renews lease for Composite Recycling Technology Center

Agreement covers 26,000 square feet at airport business park

Fire district volunteers lauded

Clallam County Fire District No. 3 recently recognized seven members… Continue reading

Clallam to continue providing deputy to Forks

Contract includes wages, mileage and maintenance reimbursement

Maintenance closes section of Olympic Discovery Trail

A portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail is closed… Continue reading

Hanna Paoluccu of Alexander, N.Y., and Rosie Berg of Nevada City, Calif., members of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and working with the Jefferson County Noxious Weed Board, remove poisonous hemlock weed from along the Larry Scott Trail in Port Townsend on Monday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Poison hemlock removal in Port Townsend

Hanna Paoluccu of Alexander, N.Y., and Rosie Berg of Nevada City, Calif.,… Continue reading

YMCA to build childcare facility

$1-2M still needed for $6.7M project

Port Townsend Police Department recognizes award recipients

The Port Townsend Police Department recognized officers, employees, volunteers… Continue reading

Port Angeles High School evacuated due to bomb threat

Nothing suspicious found, principal says

A tree that has grown out of its tree box and shattered a nearby curb and sidewalk in the 100 block of North Oak Street is among those targeted for removal and replacement in downtown Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Port Angeles tree and sidewalk replacement to begin Monday

The Port Angeles downtown tree and sidewalk replacement project… Continue reading

Grant for Forks treatment plant to be discussed

The Clallam County Opportunity Fund Advisory Board will discuss… Continue reading