PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend Aero Museum founders Jerry and Peggy Thuotte were named Port Townsend Citizens of the Year on Sunday, and Port Hadlock businesswoman and building association leader Sandy Hershelman was honored as the first recipient of the Tim Caldwell Business Leader of the Year award.
They accepted the awards during the annual Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce brunch at Fort Worden State Park Commons.
The Thuottes were two of eight nominated for Citizen of the Year. Hershelman was among seven nominated for Tim Caldwell Business Leader of the Year.
Touched by the honor
“Every one of those nominees deserves this more than me, everyone of them, including Peggy,” Jerry Thuotte said.
The Thuottes were visibly touched by the honor, holding back tears.
The Thuottes, co-founders of Port Townsend Aero Museum at Jefferson County International Airport, worked for the past year, rallying donors and in-kind donations from contractors to erect the museum featuring antique and experimental aircraft and a classroom where youths learn about airplane repair and earn their pilots licenses.
Port Townsend City Councilwoman Laurie Medlicott, 2002 Citizen of the Year who introduced the nominees and presented the Thuottes with the award, joked that they were “not fly-by-night folks,” but were instead seriously dedicated to educating youths about aviation.
Peggy Thuotte is active with the Association of Flight Attendants employee assistance program and has been the Hangar Condominium Association treasurer at the airport since 2001. She is a retired United Airlines flight attendant.
Jerry Thuotte works with the Experimental Aircraft Association, Jefferson County Pilots Association, the Antique Airplane Association and Airline Pilots Association. He is retired as a United Airlines pilot.
The Citizen of the Year award recognizes the volunteer civic contributions of a member of the community.
The Business Leader of the Year award recognizes those who advance or expand business while being involved in personal civic or community work.
Hershelman, executive officer of Jefferson County Home Builders Association who works with and lobbies on behalf of small construction businesses, acknowledged she was thrilled to receive the award, saying, “The reason I do this is for you . . . This one’s for you.”
Choking back tears, she called Port Townsend “a great community.”
Hershelman helped secure and develop a BuiltGreen program for the county and brought the JeffCo HomeShow to the county last year.
Active in the chamber, she is a business team leader for United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County, a member of the county’s Team Jefferson economic development organization, Elks and the Soroptimist Club. She is on the Water Resource Inventory Area 17 planning unit, Housing Action Plan Network and a stakeholder in the Tri-Area sewer planning process.
She is a professional marketer and Web designer.
Scott Wilson, Port Townsend-Jefferson County Leader newspaper publisher, presented the nominees and the award to Hershelman, saying she was described by admirers as a “triple A personality” and an “energizer bunny who keeps on going.”
The Port Townsend Citizen of the Year award began in 1949.
The 2007 winners were Bruce McComas, Citizen of the Year, and Nick Harper, Business Leader of the Year.
The Tim Caldwell Business Leader or the Year Award is named in honor of the former Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce manager who left the chamber last year after 16 years of service to become the Port Townsend office manager for Puget Sound Energy.
Others nominated for Business Leader of the Year were Kristin Manwaring, owner of Kristin Manwaring Insurance; Michael Early, owner of Mike Early Golf Shop; Kim Jons, owner of Kim Jons Marketing, a full-service, international marketing agency; Catherine Collins, executive director for nonprofit Port Townsend-based Sound Experience and Puget Sound’s environmental tallship, the schooner Adventuress; Ford Kessler, Jefferson County’s alcoholism and drug addiction program coordinator; Kristen Nelson, owner of Sirens Pub, who was nominated for Citizen of the Year in 2007 and is chamber president elect; and J. Piper, First Federal commercial loan officer was nominated for Citizen of the Year in 2005.
Nominees for Citizen of the Year were: Cheryl Rafoth, a retired elementary school teacher who has served 19 years as a 4-H leader and is Jefferson County 4-H leader of the Year; Teri Nomura, a real estate agent who was selected as Chair of the Year 2008 by the Washington State Democratic Party, Jefferson County Democrats chairwoman from 2005 to 2008 and active with the Jefferson County Association of Realtors; Dick and Eleanor Stickney, who are both involved in Port Townsend youth sports and activities; and Janel Carlson, a chiropractor who has served on the Port Townsend School Board nine years and on the Jumping Mouse Children’s center board seven years.
Kim Aldrich, chamber vice president, opened and closed the ceremony.
The event was sponsored by Port Townsend Sunrise Rotary, Port Townsend Kiwanis, Port Townsend Noon Rotary and Port Townsend Soroptimist clubs. Business sponsors were The Printery, American Marine Bank and The Leader.
Table sponsors were Mark Dembro and Michelle Sandoval with Windermere Real Estate, Jennifer MacGillonie, Consumer Credit and Debt Counseling Service, and Le Hornbeck, Port Townsend Computers.
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
