Two for the record books.

Clare Manis Hatler and Don Hatler, a couple with ties to the region’s most documented archaeological find, were honored Tuesday by the Sequim community for their extensive — and appreciated — volunteer efforts throughout the community.

The Hatlers were selected Citizen of the Year for 2018 by the Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce, picked by a committee of former award winners.

The couple, along with Nicole Lepping — an advocate for individuals with disabilities who started the Sequim Wheelers program — were the two finalists for Sequim’s top civic award.

In accepting the honor at the chamber’s annual award luncheon at the Guy Cole Event Center at Carrie Blake Community Park, Clare Manis Hatler said she and her husband enjoy serving the Sequim community, the “last, best place on Earth.

“We’re embarrassed,” she said. “I don’t know how to thank you. You are all Citizens of the Year.”

In the summer of 1977, Clare and Manny Manis made world headlines when they turned up the skeletal remains of a mastodon in their front yard. For the next eight years, the Manis family opened the property to people from around the world to visit the site and watch the archaeological work taking place; it became a major U.S. tourist attraction. A recent study of the Manis mastodon provided proof of the oldest human settlement found to date in the Americas.

The mastodon, through the Manis’ generosity, remains in Sequim, partially reconstructed as part of a large exhibit at Sequim Museum & Arts — a key exhibit at the museum’s exhibit center for years.

“They literally put Sequim on the map,” said Annette Hanson, herself a Citizen of the Year award winner (1997) who was one of three locals to nominate the Hatlers.

Clare Manis Hatler’s other community projects since then have included: participation as a charter member of the Dungeness River Audubon Center founding Board, serving as its nonprofit treasurer for many years; a long-time member and officer of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society Board, and working with the Washington Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which resulted in the 1915 Railroad Bridge being placed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Don Hatler praised his wife’s efforts in the community.

“She’s been a tireless advocate for archeology and for the Sequim valley, and for the resources we enjoy,” he said.

Clare Manis Hatler has also served in board positions and as long-time members of the Clallam County League of Women Voters and Sequim Museum & Arts. After Manny passed away, Clare married Don Hatler in 2001.

Since Don Hatler’s retirement to Sequim in 1997, he has played a major role in helping to manage and an important community resource: water. He has volunteered on several boards and committees to preserve the Dungeness Watershed, including the Clallam Conservation District’s Board of Supervisors, Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Peninsula Chapter, and the Dungeness River Management Team representing sports fisheries. He also served on the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee.

“Both Clare and Don have been very dedicated to our community,” Hanson said.

Before retiring and moving to Sequim, Don was involved in real estate, was a business broker, and owned a marina and sailboat dealership.

Lepping is a former special education teacher who worked with mobility challenged children. At the end of 2017 she saw a video demonstrating use of a specially designed wheelchair bicycle used to provide a way for any mobility challenged individuals to be given a ride in a bicycle.Recognizing Sequim was an ideal location for such a service — with its demographic of older individuals and the widely-used Olympic Discovery Trail for bikes — she applied for and was granted nonprofit status for Sequim Wheelers.

Since then, the program has grown — adding a board of directors, the purchase of its first wheelchair bicycle and a second on its way — and it launched the first week of July 2018. During the following 15 weeks, Sequim Wheelers volunteers provided 90 wheelchair bicycle rides to individuals in Sequim — some from local assisted living facilities.

Paul Muncey, who along with his wife Susan Hedding are board members with the Sequim Wheelers program, spoke for Lepping, who was on vacation and was unable to attend Tuesday’s awards luncheon.

“I know if she was here she’d say she is simply honored to be nominated,” Muncey said.

Muncey and James Castell nominated Lepping for the honor.

Sequim 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 Hanson

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

2015 — Louie Rychlik

2016 — Dave Bekkevar

2017 — Judy Reandeau Stipe

2018 — Clare Manis Hatler & Don Hatler