MARROWSTONE ISLAND — Longtime community volunteers Bob and Sandy Barrett have been selected as 2012’s Citizens of the Year for Marrowstone Island.
Pete Hubbard, who was the Citizen of the Year for 2010, and Marrowstone Island Community Association President Barry Lerich presented a certificate and a plaque engraved with the Barretts’ names at an association meeting Tuesday.
The award has been given each year since 1973, when Ed Richey was selected, to honor Marrowstone Island residents who have given significant and long-lasting volunteer contributions to the island and/or Jefferson County.
Bob’s efforts include 12 years as a firefighter and aid car driver for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
He also has served as a board member and president of the Marrowstone Island Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization, and worked as a docent at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where he has given private tours to Marrowstone Island residents.
He also has assisted with Nordland Garden Club activities, while Sandy has been an active member and officer of the club.
Sandy, a historian and photographer, also has worked with the Literacy Council of Jefferson County, serving as treasurer, a tutor and as the one of the initiators of the group’s Baskets of Books project, in which children’s books are provided in places such as restaurants and doctors’ offices.
Together, the Barretts have taken American Red Cross training in shelter management.
Sandy has created and maintains an Excel spreadsheet of Red Cross emergency shelter locations in Jefferson County and is a member of the “canteen team,” which provides food for emergency responders to incidents of long duration.
The Barretts moved to Marrowstone in 1998 from Spokane, where Bob owned a computer store for 14 years, and Sandy worked as a computer programmer and analyst for Spokane County.
They had moved to Spokane when Bob retired from the Navy. During his 24-year career as a naval flight officer, they lived in 15 different places, including a two-year tour in Japan.
The Barretts have two sons, one living in Olympia and one in Madison, Wis.
They hope to be able to have their sons and their families present for the traditional Citizen of the Year dinner, to be held at a time still to be determined.