The backbone of the Sequim Food Bank for years and Sequim’s Citizen of the Year in 1991, Nina Vivian Fatherson, 85, recently succumbed to cancer on June 24 in her Sequim home, her family said.

Family and friends gathered to remember Fatherson on June 30 at Sequim View Cemetery.

Tom Baermann, who helped start the food bank in his garage in 1981 on Govan Avenue, said Fatherson was a dedicated volunteer along with her husband Thomas “Bill.”

“They always did what needed to be done,” Baermann said. “They did it without complaining and they were so devoted and such hard workers.”

For 28 years the couple spearheaded helping bring food to those in-need in Sequim.

Fatherson connected with the food bank through its coordinator at the time Donna Floyd and eventually she became its coordinator/executive director, which was mostly a volunteer position through her service.

Baermann said the Fathersons had a good relationship with the local shops and “any place there was to find deals or food for free, they were there.”

She helped the food bank transition to bigger spaces twice from Baermann’s garage to an old chicken coop/storage space at Faith Lutheran Church and later the current facility at 144 W. Alder St.

Her family said Bill worked with his wife on weekends and after retirement he worked with her at the food bank.

In 1992, Fatherson was voted the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce Citizens of the Year for her efforts at the food bank. Bill received the award in 2000, too.

Shortly before her retirement in October 2009, food bank organizers renamed the main building after the Fathersons.

Stephen Rosales, Sequim Food Bank board president, said “the food bank is what it is today because of Nina and Bill.”

“They did a great job and brought it a long ways,” he said. “They worked tirelessly.”

Former City of Sequim mayor Walt Schubert worked and supported Fatherson’s efforts for several years.

“They had years of dedication and it would not have been here if not for her,” Schubert said.

“I admired what she did. When on the city council, I supported her however I could and we did some things personally, bought animals with 4-H at the (Clallam County Fair) and gave the meat to the food bank.”

About Nina

Fatherson is survived by her husband Bill and their three children Peggy, Debbie and James and their families.

Jewel Winford Parker and Alma Dee Parker brought Fatherson into the world on Feb. 2, 1932, in Arkansas and she and her father came to the Olympic Peninsula for his work as a mechanic.

She and Bill married on June 6, 1948, in Port Angeles six weeks after meeting on a blind date. Peggy was born three years later.

Fatherson has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Her family asks any memorial contributions be made to any cancer organization.

In 1992, Nina Fatherson was named Sequim Citizen of the Year for her dedication to those in-need through the Sequim Food Bank. Sequim Gazette file photo

Bill and Nina Fatherson stand outside the Sequim Food Bank where they just learn that the main building was named after them in 2009. Nina served the food bank for 28 years. She died on June 24. Sequim Gazette file photo

Nina Fatherson worked countless hours with community groups like the Boy Scouts to help people in-need at the Sequim Food Bank for 28 years. Community members remember her for her dedication to Sequim and its residents. Sequim Gazette file photo by Patricia Morrison Coate