Following In Kison’s Footsteps

WAITSBURG - Almost half a century after the prestigious distinction was first bestowed on Ernest Kison, two longtime residents known for their support of local events and traditions won the Commercial Club's Community Service Award for 2010.

Dick " Skip" Carpenter and Karen Mohney received the award for being exemplary in their care of the community and tireless in the support of events throughout the year, MC and 1976 recipient Tom Baker told the audience at the club's annual meeting recently.

In nominating Carpenter, Ivan and B.A. Keve said the former fifth-grade teacher "has been a mainstay in helping the Commercial Club in several of its projects, the Salmon Barbeque, Easter Egg Hunt and April city cleanup to name a few. He has served on the city council and many of its committees over the years."

The Keves said Carpenter tirelessly sets up and tears down the arrangements for the Salmon Barbeque attended by hundreds of people at the Don Thomas building every year, using a forklift and his own truck over a two-day period. For the April city cleanup, he uses his tractor.

Another activity for which Carpenter and his wife, Sandy, are well know is their purchase of 100 eggs for Waitsburg's Easter Egg Hunt, an in-kind service to the Commercial Club event which they started a quarter century ago.

"That began when my oldest daughter (Lynne) was 6 years old," said Carpenter, who moved his family here from Arizona in 1979 because he wanted to live in "a small town where our children would be safe."

His son Ethan, who now presides over Waitsburg's Fireman's Association, was 1 at the time.

"We looked all over the West and decided this is where we wanted to be," Carpenter said.

Carpenter taught for many years at Dayton Elementary until his retirement in 1992. Sandy, an English teacher at Prescott High School, retired from there last year. Carpenter credits her with "participating (as a community volunteer) just as much as I do."

A member of the Commercial Club and the Elks Club in Walla Walla, Carpenter also serves on Waitsburg's Planning Commission. He said he plans to keep making a difference.

"I intend to keep helping wherever I can," he said. "It's a wonderful town, and I like to do my part."

Mohney said her inclination to serve comes from the role models she had in her youth.

"It's tradition," she said in an interview this weekend. "You see the adults in your life and see how they act. You do what your mentors do."

In singling out Mohney as an award nominee, Bette Chase said, "Karen is a prime example of being a success in your own hometown" and making contributions in numerous quiet ways.

"Karen was an avid Rainbow Girl when she was in school," Chase said in her hand-written nomination letter. "She will be the first to tell you that the teachings of this organization have been an important part of her life."

Now that Mohney has accepted the part of Mother Advisor for the local group, those teachings will be instilled in another generation of teenagers, she wrote.

A 1980 graduate of Waitsburg High School who grew up here, with the exception of a few years in Dayton at an early age, Mohney started as a customer service representative for Horizon Airlines in Pendleton, Pasco and finally back in Walla Walla.

She returned to Waitsburg in 1986, worked for her parents' EZ Way marking flags company on Preston Avenue and had an auction house on Main Street for five years.

All the while, she ran a 4-H club for 15 years and was a Days of Real Sports court chaperone for 12.

Mohney began catering for the Commercial Club four years ago, making it "the best-fed organization in town," according to Chase. Three years ago, she won the Pacific Northwest "Eve Kimberly Humanitarian Award" as a sheep-dog trainer, elected by stock handlers from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California.

She said she was surprised and humbled (as was Carpenter) by the Commercial Club award.

"I know many of the people on that list (of previous recipients), and I know what they have done for this town," she said. "It's an honor to be recognized."