Scott Swanson
Intrigue is always part of the fun of the annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet, but Saturday night’s 69th annual affair contained a few unusual twists in addition to the more straightforward presentations.
Longtime local dentist Henry Wolthuis and his wife Mollie were named Distinguished Service honorees for their contributions throughout the community, and to their church and their family; Diane Gerson was recognized as Patti White Woman of the Year; and the Sweet Home Kiwanis Club was named Organization of the Year.
The twists in the story line started for Howard and Lerena Ruby, as Lerena was named First Citizen a few minutes after she and Howard’s sewing shop, Seamingly Creative, was announced as the Business of the Year.
Junior First Citizen winner Heather Search thought she was there to see her son, Ian Search get an award. Instead, presenter Michelle Knight and Ian teamed up to shock his mother with one of the more prestigious honors of the night.
A total of some 300 people turned out for the event, according to early tallies. The dinner included entertainment by the Sweet Home High School Jazz Band and some generous raffle prizes. Held in the Boys and Girls Club gymnasium, the prime rib dinner served up by The Point was emceed by Gina Riley of the Sweet Home Police Department, who keep things loose with quick one-liners all night.
I’m the entertainment but I don’t know any jokes,” she deadpanned at one point, donning a pair of heart-shaped, rhinestone-speckled glasses crowned with flamingos, as she announced that a mystery act listed on the program wasn’t going to happen.
The program began with a moment of silence for Juan Ulep, a longtime community organizer and local volunteer who was the 2009 Distinguished Service Award winner. Ulep died last month.
This is something Juan really loved,” Riley told the dinner crowd.
Chamber board Chair Brandi Hawkins reviewed the chamber’s progress over the past year, noting that it reduced its debt by $22,000, paid off its building and “ended 2012 in the black by $89, with funds set aside for 2013 property taxes, May and June operating costs, and Scenic Byways.”
Hawkins also urged attendees to become aware of the opportunities developing in various efforts to take advantage of East Linn County’s recreational potential, and to take advantage of them (see accompanying article for a full text of her remarks).
Chamber Awards
Award winners were:
Distinguished Service Award winners Henry and Mollie Wolthuis were introduced by Ben Dahlenburg, standing in for last year’s winner Corky Lowen who was not feeling well enough to attend, he said. Dahlenburg began his remarks by telling the audience that one winner of the award “shouldn’t even be here.”
He told how Henry Wolthuis “has nearly died on many occasions,” including the time he hung by one hand from a tall tree, chainsaw in the other hand and a slipped ladder on his toe.” Wolthuis, he said, also twice was saved from death via bee-sting allergies by Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District medics; once had a farm tractor roll completely over him after he’d fallen over a hidden embankment; and was kidnapped, robbed and left in a canyon on a humanitarian service trip to Bolivia.
These are just the stories we know about,” Dahlenburg noted.
Wolthuis moved to Sweet Home with his wife Bonita in 1967 and reared their five children here until Bonita fell ill with cancer in 1987. Dahlenburg recounted how Wolthuis, a dentist in Sweet Home for 45 years, bought a Cadillac, though he preferred less ostentatious vehicles, to make her trips to Portland for treatment more comfortable. After her death, he soon sold the car.
Wolthuis met his current wife, Mollie, at church while in Hawaii to attend a convention. They were married in 1990 and she moved to town on April 1 of that year, taking over a household in which four children were still at home. It was her first marriage.
Mollie Wothuis got involved quickly, participating in Dining With Daisy, a forerunner of Manna free meals program, in which she still participates; with the Lebanon Hospital Auxiliary, in which she has held most leadership positions at the local and state level; in various Auxiliary fund-raisers, including Concerts in the Park, old car shows and others; the Sweet Home Garden Club; as art director of the Gala Festival of Music and Fine Arts for 18 years; and as president of the primary program and Relief Society for the Church of Latter-Day Saints.
Her husband says life with her is fun, but a swift ride,” Dahlenburg said.
Henry Wolthuis, a dentist in Sweet Home for 45 years, is a talented organist who is teaching several youngsters to play, sings in the church choir, loves antique cars – particularly Model T’s and his tree farm. He has served on the City Council, various city committees, as a longtime Rotary Club members, as a Manna volunteer, as an organizer for the Gala festival, in various leadership positions in the LDS church and much more.
Henry Wothuis told the crowd, as he and his wife accepted their plaque, that “too much has been said already,” but he added that he was particularly thankful for the drugs and skill displayed by local medics who treated him for the bee stings.
First Citizen Lerena Ruby was introduced by last year’s winner, Police Chief Bob Burford, who urged attendees not to try too hard to guess whom he was talking about.
You see, our winner has spent sew much of her life involved in our community and is sew entwined in the fabric of our area that to try and be coy about it would take away from her story,” Burford said.
Ruby’s family moved to the Sweet Home area during the Great Depression and she was born here and grew up in Holley before moving to Newport, where she graduated from high school
She has always been a competitor but, in 1946, (in) this first of life’s challenges, she came in as the second baby ever born into the new Langmack Hospital,” Burford joked.
She met Howard, a minister at the time, when he needed help on a church project. They operated a successful grocery store in Brownsville until 1993, when they sold it and Lerena opened Seamingly Creative “almost immediately.”
With the help of family members, exhaustive market research was conducted. Traffic patterns were studied and the business location chosen. Apparently, all the research was worth it because, 19 years later, this successful business is still operating and draws loyal repeat customers from through the Mid-Valley,” Burford said.
Lerena Ruby has served on the SHEDG and Chamber of Commerce boards; as an active member of SHARE; as a past leader who is still active in Project Linus, which creates quilts for critically ill children; and as a member of the VFW and AmVets auxiliaries.
To add to this, she is very creative and makes chemotherapy hats for cancer patients, but still finds time to try and spend time with her six grandchildren,” Burford said.
He added that Ruby has been honored with an LBCC Excellence in Teaching award, has been a chamber VIP honoree and BPW Woman of the Year, and has been a “huge” supporter of local schools and of the police and fire departments.
When I pressed her husband for more information, he kept repeating the same sentiment: ‘She is just as she presents herself; she is a very good woman with a heart of gold and who truly wants to help people,’” Burford said.
Junior First Citizen Heather Search was introduced by last year’s winner, Knight, and the winner’s son, Ian Search, decked out in full uniform and regalia as a master sergeant and platoon leader with the Linn-Benton Young Marines.
We are doing things just a little different,” Knight said, introducing Ian, a Sweet Home High School junior who recently was named Division 6 Young Marine of the Year, representing seven western states.
Ian played along.
The Young Marines has provided opportunities for me and millions of kids,” he said. “One of the biggest supporters for it is my mom, Heather Search.”
His mother told the crowd, after she was introduced, that she had actually only attended the event because she had been led to think her son was going to be an honoree.
Knight said Search “jumps in to help whenever asked and never expects a thing in return.
When her kids were in elementary school, she voluntarily showed up each morning to serve breakfast. This year, when the eighth-grade girls needed a basketball coach, she jumped in to fill the role. She did this while working full-time as an accountant, serving on the Boys and Girls Club board, serving as treasurer for the 4-H club that her daughter is actively involved in, as well as being a 4-H leader, serving in the Booster Club and serving as paymaster for the Young Marines.”
Search has also served as treasurer for the Sweet Home Swim Club and is actively involved in both her church and with the Search and Rescue team.
Our community is better because she is in it,” Knight said. “I am proud to call her my friend.”
Patti Woods Woman of the Year Diane Gerson, a retired school administrator who has been active in supporting a wide variety of local literary, educational and civic causes since moving to Sweet Home from Southern California, is an “‘encourager’ who, colleagues say, ‘believes in accountability but she is never mean-spirited,’” last year’s winner, Firiel Severns, said in presenting the award.
Gerson is or has been active in PEO as treasurer, in AmVets Auxiliary, Friends of the Library – among other things as one of the founders of its bookstore, the Chamber of Commerce board, the Sweet Home School District Board of Directors, the School District Budget Committee, as chair of the Commission on Children and Families, as president of the Board of Directors for KidCo Head Start, and as a member of the tri-county team to develop Early Learning Council Hub directives.
A friend of hers told me that, as a former school administrator, she has a lifelong goal of helping children and young adults,” Severns said. “She is said to have a passion for the community, to see it be as good as it can be and to better the lives of its residents.
One community leader told me that ‘the list of things that she has accomplished is too numerous to list.’”
Business of the Year Seamingly Creative was introduced by Leann Victor, co-owner with husband Manny of Sweet Home Choppers, last year’s winner.
She recounted many of the same points noted by Burford in introducing Howard and Lerena Ruby, who own the fabric shop.
Victor noted the “expert advice and friendly service” at the shop, which always has a “window display that matches the season, holiday, or a theme that is happening around town.”
Lerena Ruby and Seamingly Creative supply free hats to chemotherapy patients, donates “hundreds” of quilts to Project Linus, help
The time and donations given by this shop show that they truly love our community and the people who live here,” Victor said.
Organization of the Year Sweet Home Kiwanis Club was announced by Fire Chief Mike Beaver, representing the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, which won the award last year.
He cited the club’s 21 members’ participation in the Oregon Jamboree, the Santiam Mud Festival, Jim Bean Safety Fair, Harvest Festival, Sunshine Industries’ Capital Campaign, Sweet Home Sweet Ride Car Show, the Sweet Home High School Key Club, Shoes for Children, the Bring Up Grades program, in which members visit local schools to help children with literacy, and “many, many more events and programs.”
Our culture exposes kids to many negative things,” Beaver said. “One thing that community service teaches our children the passion that can be developed for giving back to one’s community. With many homes having both parents working, or even single-parent homes, parents don’t often have the time or resources to impart such wisdom to our children.
Tonight’s winner of the Organization of the Year helps fill that gap with their dedication to our community’s children.”
VIP Awards
Also honored were seven VIP Award winners, which were introduced by Mona Waibel and Bob Snyder of the President’s Club.
Rogene Stock was honored for her work on the Senior Alcohol Free Entertainment (SAFE) party for 16 years, her 20-year service on the board of Habitat for Humanity, hosting Josai students during summers, her participation in leading Earth Shuttle trips for 15 years, her work in her church and, as Waibel noted, “best known for being one of the Sweet Potato Queens” through which she “has given enjoyment to this community, both in fun things and serious things” including the Bras Across the Bridge breast cancer fund-raiser.
You are an incredible lady and very loved by all of us,” Waibel said.
John Smith was recognized for his work on Sportsman’s Holiday Court parade floats, SAFE party fund-raising, a play structure he built for the Oak Heights School playground, as an Oregon Jamboree volunteer, and as a U.S. Forest Service volunteer who maintains hiking trails and helped build a kiosk at the Sweet Home Ranger Station.
Smith, who worked for Weyerhaeuser for nearly 44 years before retiring in 2010, also helps with the sound system, youth ministries there and as a trustree at the Evangelical Church.
Arlene Paschen was honored for her work with the Sweet Home Beautification Committee, helping to organize the Arts and Crafts Festival, lining up sponsors and handling advertising, locating vendors and helping with set-up and take-down.
She has lived in other areas and chose Sweet Home as her home,” Waibel said, quoting Beautification Committee leader Alice Grovom. “She came from Arizona and as they drove past the beautiful flowers in the median strip, she decided she wanted to live here.”
Mary Brendle, described by Snyder as a “quiet person but a hard worker,” was recognized for her efforts with the Manna food program at the United Methodist Church, and PEO, which provides scholarships to local women pursuing higher education. The daughter of “our beloved pharmacist Kenneth Groves,” she has lived her entire life in Sweet Home, graduating from Sweet Home Union High School in 1951 and marrying “a local boy.”
Gus Gerson was honored for his volunteer work with AmVets, Kiwanis Club, the Sweet Home Sweet Ride car show, SHARE and the Friends of the Library. Waibel said Gerson is “very excited about children” and “has really become part of our town.”
Look for him in our Friends of the Library (bookstore’s) new location on Long Street,” Waibel said. “It’s not an exercise room now. Take all your older books off your shelves and give them to Gus.”
Bill Baitinger was recognized by Snyder as a “quiet man who helps most everyone.” A retired landscape contractor who moved to Sweet Home in 2003, he assists with the Mud Fest, judges parades and works with Manna, AmVets and on the Sweet Home Sweet Ride car show. He also helped with the giant Christmas card display project last year.
A dedicated Kiwanis Club member, he sends weekly e-mails to fellow Kiwanians to encourage them to pursue good health and “never misses a meeting,” Snyder said.
Joking that “there must be an epidemic of Kiwanis” at this year’s awards banquet, Waibel introduced yet another Kiwanian, Don Gonzalez, as the final VIP winner.
Gonzalez advises the SHHS Key Club and helps them with Thanksgiving boxes, plans blood drives, buys gifts for needy teens, appears as Santa at local gatherings, helps Marks Ridge Winery at local events, and provides photography services for many local happenings, including Christmas at East Linn Museum.
We are glad you came here,” Waibel told him in announcing the award. “Thanks for making a difference in our town.”
Riley thanked Banquet Committee members Sherri Pagliari, Lerena Ruby, Kim Palmer and Michael Hall for putting the event together, the result of weekly meetings since January, she said.
The prime rib dinner was provided by The Point restaurant, with bread supplied by Karyn Hartsook of Farmers Insurance, dessert by A&W, coffee by Umpqua Bank, adult drinks by Marks Ridge Winery, Key Club members kept water glasses full, decorations were supplied by Foster Lake Mall, Sweet Home Sanitation provided waste services and tables and chairs were supplied by Cascade Timber Consulting.
Door prize winners were Wendi Melcher, who took home a shopping spree basket featuring a wide variety of prizes from local businesses, Oregon Jamboree tickets won by Marilyn and Don Schlim, and a quilt that went to Debbie Jewell.