On a cold winter night, Hermiston showed its warmth for a handful of deserving citizens at Wednesday’s Distinguished Service Awards banquet hosted by the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce.
Among those honored were Woman of the Year Shawn Lockwood and Man of the Year Ford Bonney.
Other honorees included Merit of Honor Award winner Michelle Hankinson; Bob Severson Rotary Business of the Year winner Purswell Pump Co.; Altrusan Outstanding Young Citizen Award winner Madison Wilson; Hermiston School District Educator of the Year Amber Utter; HSD Administrator of the Year Jeff Kelso; and HSD Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Jaclyn Jenkins.
Woman of the Year
Lockwood was lauded Wednesday night for her generosity and her many contributions to the community as well as individuals – some friends and others perfect strangers. In fact, she gave up a trip to Las Vegas to be at the banquet because she was told someone she knew was going to be honored.
Board member, coach, mentor, volunteer, friend, mother, wife, grandmother, business owner, employee, neighbor and leader are some of the roles she has served within the community over the years.
Those nominating Lockwood cited her hand-made quilts she donates to wounded soldiers through the Quilts of Valor program. She has also volunteered with Campus Life, Meadowood Camps, Little League, the “I Love My City” community service program, and more.
She’s been known to offer help to the youth of the community either through career advice, gardening tips or encouraging them to set good examples in the community. She has volunteered to go on mission trips with church youth.
Lockwood is a member of the chamber’s Leadership Hermiston class and volunteers on the steering committee to provide updated content for the class.
Lockwood was nearly overcome with emotion upon receiving the award.
“I am speechless and very grateful,” she said. “I don’t even know what to say except thank you very much.”
Man of the Year
Dennis Barnett presented Bonney with the Man of the Year award. Barnett sang Bonney’s praises, even indirectly comparing his commitment to the community to Mother Teresa (which Bonney later said was “a stretch.”)
“He has been involved in almost every organization in this city in one form or another,” Barnett said. “He has been involved for more than 40 years in charitable work in Hermiston.”
Bonney, an auctioneer, has donated his talents over the years to a number of fundraisers including the Dad’s Cake Bake at local elementary schools and the annual livestock auction during the Umatilla County Fair.
Barnett called Bonney a humble man who’s greatest work is often behind the scenes and done without fanfare. Bonney, a lifelong Hermiston resident, has been a fixture in the business community with Hale’s Restaurant in downtown Hermiston.
“He knows everything that goes on in this city,” Barnett said. “He, his business and his family are an institution in this community.”
Bonney got emotional – and as is typical, humorous – when introducing his family.
“They’ve had to tolerate all that crap Dennis talked about,” he said. He said he was blessed to live in a community like Hermiston.
“I can’t say enough about this community,” he said.
Merit of Honor
The award was presented by Master Gardener Norah Pratton who spoke about Michelle “Chelle” Hankinson’s efforts to help establish a community garden in town.
As one of her nominating sponsors wrote, Hankinson’s contributions to the community can be measured by the bountiful harvests of the Lovin’ Spadefuls Hermiston Community Garden that she helped develop back in 2011.
The garden project started by a simple raising of a hand – Hankinson’s – when someone at Head Start, where she worked, asked if anyone was interested in helping start a community garden in Hermiston. Despite having no previous gardening experience, Hankinson dived in by recruiting fellow volunteers and community partners including Good Shepherd Health Care System, which donated the land and water. Now, with more than 80 plots, the garden area also features walking paths, green spaces with more improvements coming down the pike.
Hankinson and her family moved to Hermiston when she was 13. She graduated from Hermiston High School, continued her education at Blue Mountain Community College before graduating from Eastern Oregon University.
She returned to Hermiston to marry, to coach swimming and teach in the Hermiston School District and to work at Umatilla Morrow Head Start as their USDA manager, preschool teacher and child advocate.
Pratton wrapped up her description of Hankinson with this:
“One has become accustomed to the phrase, “It takes a village … ” in reference to raising a successful child. What the phrase doesn’t say is “It takes a volunteer with great vision and love to organize a willing village to develop an idea into a reality.” That village is Hermiston. That reality is Lovin’ Spadefuls Hermiston Community Garden. That facilitator is Chelle Hankinson. Now is the time to recognize her for all she has done.”
“I didn’t do this all by myself,” Hankinson said. “I really didn’t. I appreciate all your help.”
Bob Severson Rotary Business of the Year
Hermiston Rotary Club President Tony Garberg presented the award to the Purswell Pump Co., and owner Scott Purswell. Garberg said the multi-generational business is known for its many contributions to the community and generosity in sponsoring sports teams and events.
“They are known for stepping up and filling voids,” Garberg said. “They are visible their support of youth sports, 4-H and were deeply involved in the development of the Eastern Oregon Trade & Event Center.”
Scott Purswell said he was humbled to be included among the past Business of the Year winners.
Altrusa Outstanding Young Citizen Award
Altrusa President Dawn Long presented the award to Hermiston High School student Madison Wilson.
“Her heart for serving others is second to none,” said Long. She said Wilson takes Advanced Placement Spanish so she can communicate with others in the community who might not speak English. When she was in the eighth grade, she made Valentines cards for every student at Armand Larive Middle School so no one would be left out, and volunteers at Desert Rose Ministries.
“She is driven, compassionate, caring and kind,” said Long.
Hermiston School District Administrator of the Year
Jeff Kelso, the technology manager for the district, received the honor Wednesday night. He has been a district employee for just over a year, but in a short time, according to the district, he and his staff have improved the efficiency of district networks and its ability to recover from hardware failures in a timely fashion.
His team has implemented many tools in the PowerSchool system: report cards, the SPED module, online registration, and the PowerSchool Power Pack.
District officials also say Kelso has won the hearts and admiration of our entire staff. His e-mails are said to be more sought after than anyone else’s and his sense of humor and quirkiness is often envied and solicited.
He is a very hard worker who understands that, although our teachers are the ones in the trenches, the work done each day behind the scenes by the IT staff is equally important.
Kelso was also noted for responding to technological issues that have occurred after his regular work hours or weekends.
Outside of work, Kelso serves on the Hermiston Parks and Recreation Committee and is a member of Kiwanis.
Hermiston School District Educator of the Year
Amber Utter, an instructional coach for the district, was named Educator of the Year on Wednesday. She has been with the district for 11 years.
Utter, who couldn’t attend Wednesday’s banquet, was previously a sixth-grade teacher at Sandstone Middle School. Utter had great success implementing the district’s instructional tools and protocols with her students, making her a strong candidate to fill the role as an instructional coach. Utter now supports classroom teachers and provides group and one-on-one training in district-adopted programs.
She is a district trainer in both constructive meaning and explicit instruction. Utter mentors and supports first-year teachers and assists teachers and administrators in the use of iReady data. Her eagerness to help is appreciated by all who work closely with her, according to district officials.
