The committee consisting of past Citizen of the Year award holders has chosen the finalists for the 2014 Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year award.

Finalists are David Blakeslee, Melissa Murray, Judy Reandeau Stipe and Cliff Vining.

“It was a pretty big shock and I am very humbled by it (being a finalist),” Reandeau Stipe, said. “I’ve come from a family that has always done a lot of volunteering and community service so I really don’t know any different.”

With family roots dating back to the late 1800s in the valley, Reandeau Stipe was nominated by Bob Stipe, acknowledging his wife’s years and dedication to the community.

Growing up in Sequim, Reandeau Stipe first got involved with the Museum & Arts Center long before it was an official museum around 1960 – back when it was just a few file boxes in the city hall, she said.

Reandeau Stipe is now director of the Museum & Arts Center and admits with the ongoing community support it’s a “pleasure and easy” to work long hours for a cause such as keeping the museum alive.

The family roots of Blakeslee also run deep, and like Reandeau Stipe, his family’s presence in the  area dates back to the late 1800s.

“One of the things I really like about Sequim is the whole community is really giving,” Blakeslee said. “I’m a Type A personality so I am always looking for ways to get more things done.”

Nominated by George Dooley of the Sequim Valley Lions Club, Blakeslee is heavily involved with the club and most recently the co-director for the annual logging show. Additionally, Blakeslee travels with the Sequim Irrigation Festival float and drives it in a handful of the 15 cities the float is paraded.

“Volunteering to me is fun,” Blakeslee said. “And because all the money the Lions Club raises goes back to the community, I am always looking for other projects the club can get involved in.”

In recognition of being a devoted volunteer with the Sequim Food Bank for about 30 years, nearly 94-year-old Vining was nominated by executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, Mark Ozias.

“I was raised in Sequim,” Vining said. “I moved away, but came back to retire and I’ve lived here about 45 years.”

For Vining, volunteering at the food bank over the years has simply given him something do, but he admits, “it’s quite an honor” to be nominated.

Unlike the other finalists, Murray only lives in Sequim during the spring, summer and fall, but while she’s in the area she makes the most of her time volunteering. Nominated by Larry Jeffryes for her ongoing work with the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association, Murray said she was “flattered and honored.”

Although Murray winters elsewhere, Sequim has been her home since 2010 after she moved to the area with the intent to volunteer, she said.

“I volunteer to stay involved,” Murray said. “We (Murray and her husband) live a minimalistic lifestyle to have the flexibility to do that.”

Driven by one of her life mottos that “blessed to be a blessing,” throughout the years Murray has been involved with the library, the Boys & Girls Club of the Olympic Peninsula, Museum & Arts Center and Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.

As winter draws to a close, Murray looks forward to returning to Sequim and delving into the variety of volunteer opportunities with hopes of increasing her volunteer time at the Sequim Visitor Information Center.