PORT ANGELES — It’s the Dorothy Duncan Learning Center.
The name of First Step Family Support Center’s new building, dedicated in the memory of a former board member and Port Angeles’ first woman mayor — among other accomplishements — was revealed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning.
The dedication at 323 E. Sixth St. in Port Angeles was attended by about 125 people, including Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair.
Dorothy Duncan, who died Dec. 1, 2008, at the age of 73, was remembered as a dedicated board member and longtime champion for children.
Caring for community
“She cared about her family and she cared about the community a great deal,” said her husband, Dennis Duncan.
Dorothy Duncan was a board member for the nonprofit organization for about 15 years.
Before that, she was Port Angeles’ first woman mayor, a Clallam County commissioner, and a founding member of the Port Angeles Children’s Theatre.
She was also a Port Angeles School Board member.
First Step provides health and educational services to families who are low-income or otherwise in need.
The 4,174-square-foot-building, with a freshly painted white picket fence and cream, tan and red facade, includes a preschool early learning center, conference center, child care facility and private counseling offices.
The $815,000 expansion is located next to First Step’s other building.
It was funded by donors, state Department of Commerce, Medina Foundation, Norcliffe Foundations, D.V. and Ida J. McEachren Charitable Trust, Seattle Foundation-Benjamin Phillips Memorial Fund, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Childcare Program.
Dicks, who represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula, said such projects are even more important today than they were in recent years.
“Obviously, the role this center plays becomes even more important during these tough economic times,” he said.
“We have seen even more and more need in this community.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.