MARROWSTONE ISLAND — Pete Hubbard couldn’t believe he’d been chosen for the 39th Citizen of the Year award.
“When I look at what other citizens of the year have done, I figured I’d never match up to that,” he said.
But clearly, the Marrowstone Island Community Association, which announced the selection Monday, thought otherwise.
After all, Hubbard is responsible for getting members of the community connected to each other. In 1999, he started a closed website exclusively for community alerts, communication and information.
“I love to work with computers, and it’s been something easy for me,” said Hubbard, a retired IBM advisory programmer who moved to the island with his wife, Heidi, 17 years ago.
About half of island households — 235 families — subscribe, and Hubbard said he gets about one new subscription a month.
“Information comes through this about boats that have lost their moorings, lost dogs and cats, cougar and bear sightings, meeting announcements, activities of many kinds all over the island,” wrote island resident Billie Fitch of Hubbard’s effort.
“It is a connection we enjoy that nobody else has; a way of bringing us together as an island community,” she said.
“People put all kinds of stuff out there,” Hubbard said with a chuckle.
Hubbard also updated the island’s own directory of people and businesses, a publication called Hellow Pages, and put it all online for easy and quick access.
The honor Hubbard received is intended to honor people whose volunteer activities have benefitted the island and Jefferson County.
He has spent many hours working with the county’s Department of Emergency Management and preparing a new website for island residents with general information as well as tips specific to them.
Last year, he helped organize a recognition event honoring first responders of East Jefferson Fire-Rescue who serve the county.
He is a past president of the community association and hosts classes in computer social networking, identifying community websites that residents can access.
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Phone her at 360-385-4645 or e-mail julie mccormick10@gmail.com.