PORT ANGELES — Eight everyday heroes were honored last week for working behind the scenes to make Clallam County a better place to live.
Volunteers Dianna Cross, Jo Oliver, Mary Sherwood, Tammy Sullenger, Bob Agee, Charlie Devoney, Gary Marler and Jim Walsh were recognized with Clallam County Community Service Awards at a public reception Thursday.
“If we don’t have neighbor to neighbor, we don’t have a community,” said Sherwood, a registered nurse who helps at Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics, provides respite care for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, rescues dogs and serves as a court-appointed child advocate.
“I just love to work with the people of this community.
“I love being a neighbor.”
The annual awards, begun in 1980 by the Peninsula Daily News and now co-sponsored by Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Noon Club, honor volunteers “who have made a difference in Clallam County, who have made our communities a better place by doing extraordinary things for their neighbors, their community or the environment.”
About 70 people attended the public service reception at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Angeles.
Cherie Kidd, Port Angeles deputy mayor and Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Noon Club member, said the award recipients have made “lasting contributions to the quality of life here in our community.”
PDN Publisher Terry Ward, who co-hosted the event with Kidd, said the ceremony was about community, passion and commitment.
“It’s a night about ordinary people of extraordinary community accomplishments, a night about eight persons whose unselfish efforts have made Clallam County a better place,” Ward said.
A blue-ribbon panel of judges selected the award winners from nominations made by individuals, clubs, churches, businesses and other organizations.
Cross and Oliver, both of Sequim, were selected for being longtime Clallam County American Red Cross volunteers. They were introduced by Eileen Schmitz, president of JACE The Real Estate Co. and one of five judges on the panel.
“Dianna has spent her whole life helping others and serving others,” Schmitz said of Cross.
Cross, 92, said she joined the Red Cross more than 30 years ago when she was living in England.
After moving to the North Olympic Peninsula with her late husband, Cross was deployed to seven disasters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, where she and other volunteers handed out vouchers for food, clothing and other necessities to disaster victims.
“Red Cross is my life,” Cross said. “It’s been a great experience.”
Oliver used her skills as a registered nurse in her 19 years as a American Red Cross volunteer. She helped identify health problems among disaster victims that may have been missed by others.
“She has spent her life using her nursing as a way of volunteering, not just as a career,” Schmitz said.
Said Oliver: “It’s always a joy to me to go out and serve the people that are in trouble.”
“I have certainly enjoyed being apart of the Red Cross,” Oliver said.
Marc Abshire, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director and judge for the awards, said Sherwood was a “slam-dunk obvious choice for this award.”
Sherwood developed a wound care clinic at the free VIMO clinic in Port Angeles. She makes house calls and ensures that her patients have enough food, clothes and other supplies.
“I think it’s because I’ve got a big nose: I find out more than just the medical problems,” Sherwood said.
“I find out if [patients] need a load of wood or some clean socks, or a shower or some food.”
Sullenger was nominated by six individuals “for her longstanding and dedicated service to veterans,” Ward said.
A former Clallam County veterans coordinator, Sullenger continues to devote her spare time to veterans’ causes. She serves as secretary of the Clallam County Veterans Association.
She was introduced by Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach.
“Tammy makes veterans more visible and appreciated,” said Peach, one of the judges.
“In addition to, if you will, the organizational greatness, she inspires people.”
Sullenger helped reorganize Clallam County’s veterans policy, which has become a model for other counties in the state, County Administrator Jim Jones said in a nomination letter.
Northwest Veterans Resource Center Administrator Jeff Reyas said Sullenger is a “hero” to many Clallam County veterans.
“She’s my hero because she pulled me out of a very dark place,” Reyas said.
Clallam County Veterans Association President Gary Velie credited Sullenger for organizing the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles.
“It comes out perfect every year because Tammy does it,” Velie said. “She helps vets 24/7.”
Sullenger, the daughter of a Marine, said working for veterans is a “passion” and “something that comes honestly.”
“I’m surrounded by a lot of support of veterans in this community,” Sullenger said.
Sullenger remains a point person for veterans groups that participate in such ceremonies as the monthly bell-ringing memorial at Veterans Memorial Park in Port Angeles at 1 p.m. on the last Friday of each month.
“I think it’s really important to have the traditions of the military and continue their ceremonies and what is so important to them for everything they’ve done for us,” Sullenger said.
Agee, Devoney, Marler and Walsh were recognized for being longtime volunteers of the Port Angeles Police Department.
The foursome has donated a combined 20,000 hours of service to the department.
“Our police volunteer program is the reason we exist the way we do,” Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith said. “They add something to us every day.”
Police volunteers staff community events such as high school graduations and music festivals, watch houses while owners are on vacation, drive police vehicles to be serviced in Lakewood and handle many other support tasks, Smith said.
Agee, an Air Force veteran who began volunteering with the department in 1998, said he was “really impressed” with the other award recipients.
“I can’t beat what the four women before us did,” Agee said.
Devoney, a Korean War veteran and former prisoner of war, described his volunteer work as “fun” and “quite rewarding.”
Marler, a Port Angeles native, said, “I met a lot of good people down there” at the police station.
Walsh recalled towing a trailer without knowing that he was headed to a major drug bust in Gales Addition on his first week on the job in 2003.
“We have a blast with the police volunteers,” Walsh said. “The police department is like family.”
At a high school graduation two years ago, Smith slowed his vehicle at a crosswalk to say hello to an on-duty Devoney. The volunteer officer told Smith: “You need to keep moving.”
“They take their job seriously,” Smith said of the police volunteers.
“They’re nice to people, they’re helpful, they’re great community servants and Charlie’s just one of those people.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
