Despite his absence, community members gathered to both honor and give respect to Cliff Vining as the 2014 Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Award winner.
Vining died at 93 years old, just days prior to the luncheon, and was among four award finalists, David Blakeslee, Melissa Murray and Judy Reandeau Stipe – all nominated for their contributions toward the betterment of the community.
“I’m thrilled it went to Cliff,” Reandeau Stipe said following the announcement at the luncheon, Feb. 24. “He’s the one example we should all follow.”
Shortly before his death, Vining told Gazette staff to be nominated was “quite an honor,” but he wasn’t one to seek recognition for his years of volunteerism.
“Cliff did volunteer work because he wanted to do it, not for the honor,” Esther Nelson, a past Citizen of the Year, said.
Vining was nominated as Citizen of the Year once before, but wouldn’t accept the award, Stephen Rosales, Sequim Food Bank board president, told those attending the luncheon. Only after convincing from Rosales did Vining agree to accept the second nomination.
“He knew it would bring positive light to the food bank and that’s the only reason he decided to accept,” Rosales said. “A big light went out in Sequim. The food bank wouldn’t be what it is today without Cliff Vining.”
In recognition of the decades Vining devoted to the Sequim Food Bank, the organization’s Executive Director Mark Ozias nominated the honorary pioneer for the Sequim Citizen of the Year Award.
Vining spent several hours, nearly everyday of the week at the food bank for 30 years, Ozias said.
“It’s incomprehensible to think just how many people’s lives he impacted over the years,” he said. “His legacy is built on helping one individual person at a time.”
Ozias explained the timeless lessons he learned from both working with and watching Vining at the food bank. First, Ozias endearingly coined the way Vining would move while relocating large crates of food as the “Cliff Shuffle,” but it reminded him to always “take small steps.”
“There is not a mountain or goal that can’t be achieved if you have the patience,” Ozias said.
Secondly, Ozias was reminded by Vining that to “serve others is the best reason to wake up every morning.”
Given Vining’s dedication to stay active in his community even into his 90s, Ozias was continually reminded by Vining’s presence to “just keep moving.”
“Determination to just keep moving allowed him (Vining) to move mountains of food at the food bank, but it could have been anything,” he said.
Because Vining didn’t say much about his ongoing volunteer work, he also was a constant reminder that “actions speak louder than words,” Ozias said. Lastly, Vining reminded Ozias and all those around him the importance of to simply “have fun.”
“He was just that kind of person … hard-working with a kind heart,” Vining’s nephew, Ray Vining, said.
Vining grew up in Sequim and graduated from Sequim High School in 1939, but moved to Grandview in the early 1940s to help his father with their farm.
Following a variety of careers within the dairy industry, Vining farmed grapes and asparagus and eventually sold and repaired radios and televisions at his store, Cliff’s TV.
“Always having in mind a desire to return to Sequim, with the sale of the vineyards we took the opportunity and moved to Sequim in 1982,” Vining wrote in “Sequim Pioneer Family Histories From: 1850-World War II.”
With his wife, Bette Lou King, Vining left Grandview nearly 40 years later bound for Sequim where the couple enjoyed retirement together until Bette died in 2005 after 57 years of marriage.
“I love Sequim … especially the weather and the beauty,” Vining said only a few days before his death.
The 2014 Citizen of the Year Award engraved to Vining is to be mounted on the wall in the Sequim Food Bank as a quiet reminder of his tireless and forever appreciated community support.
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Citizens of the Year
1968 — Peter Black
1969 — Carl Klint
1970 — Virginia Keeting
1971 — Virginia Peterson
1972 — Tom Groat
1973 — None
1974 — Katie & Bill Merrill
1975 — Jerry Angiuli
1976 — Chuck Southern, Howard Wood, Lorna McInnes
1977 — Nellie Tetrude
1978 — Marcia Welch
1979 — Ruby Trotter
1980 — Iris Marshall
1981 — Howard Herrett
1982 — Guy Shephard
1983 — Don & Vivian Swanson
1984 — Bill & Shirley Keeler
1985 — Ed & Marcia Beggs
1986 — Ruby Mantle
1987 — Jeff Shold
1988 — Annette Kuss
1989 — Jim Haynes
1990 — Bill & Judy Rowland
1991 — Nina Fatherson
1992 — Bud Knapp
1993 — Paul Higgins
1994 — Rand Thomas
1995 — Rochelle McHugh
1996 — Esther Nelson
1997 — Annette Hansen
1998 — Jim & Cathy Carl
1999 — Bill Fatherson
2000 — Robert Clark
2001 — Don Knapp
2002 — Gil Oldenkamp
2003 — John Beitzel
2004 — Emily Westcott
2005 — Lee Lawrence
2006 — Bob & Elaine Caldwell
2007 — Stephen Rosales
2008 — Walt & Sherry Schubert
2009 — Tom Schaafsma
2010 — Jim Pickett
2011 — Dick Hughes
2012 — Kevin Kennedy
2013 — Gary Smith
2014 — Cliff Vining
