“If we had only two or three or five Emily Westcotts, it would be amazing what we could accomplish.” – Steve Burkett, Sequim city manager she packed up her things and moved to Port Angeles. Six months later she moved to Sequim, deciding to commute to Port Angeles. Again, a good move for the rest of us. In 1982, Emily married Ken Whitney, owner of the former Red Ranch Inn and restaurant, now the Olympic View Inn and Baja Cantina. It was a busy time for Emily — she helped manage the inn and restaurant and continued working in education. After Ken died in 1993, Emily managed the business for the next three years — and taught at the Sequim Alternative School. Emily retired in 1998 but has been a substitute teacher for the Sequim schools since.
Flower baskets and Christmas lights
Sally, Westcott’s 172 Cessna “lives” at the Sequim Valley Airport.
Whenever I have visitors from out of the area, they rave about the lush flower baskets throughout the town — and ask how it happens. The answer is one Emily Westcott. When Emily first arrived, she thought she had been transported to the end of the world. However, it didn’t take long before she was fully ensconced into the philanthropic way of Sequim life. Early on she was part of a group called Retail Trade, a precursor of the Sequim Downtown Association. The group was responsible for the fireworks shows and flower baskets. But how was the basket project to be sustained? Emily had the idea to involve the horticulture and agriculture students at Sequim High School. It was a win-win for both the city and the school. Emily procured sponsors for individual baskets, students design and plant the baskets — all from seed and carefully nurtured in the greenhouse — and the city hangs them on the light poles in early summer. The school also garners a portion of the funds for supplies from the sponsorship money. And Sequim’s citizens and visitors are left with a lovely garden in the sky, the flowers growing halfway
down the poles by summer’s end. Almost as soon as the flower baskets come down it is ready for the Christmas wreaths, lights and decorations to go up. Guess who’s hot and heavy into that project? Uh-huh, Emily Westcott. It’s only mid-March, but Emily already is stressing about how many lights she will have to replace next Christmas, if there will be enough money to buy them or will there be enough volunteers to help out. Closets, the garage and even the bathtub at her Sherwood Village condo are stuffed with strings of lights needing to be checked. “I’m already excited about next year,” Emily said with a little twinkle in her eyes. (Speaking of her eyes: those three little diamond studs along the side of her right eye? They’re stick-ons. I often wondered about those, thinking they were pierced, and finally asked. Said she put them on once for some such event and now buys the little things by the handful.) As if that isn’t enough, Emily often goes through town, tidying up spots where weeds grow, getting help from those needing to work off community service. The work earned her the title ‘Captain of the Weed Patrol.’ I asked City Clerk Karen Kuznek-Reese how important and valuable Emily is to the city. “She is an amazing woman,” she responded. “We all love her.” Burkett added that is is great to have people in the community like Emily. “I’ve told Emily that she can’t retire or go anywhere before she has a replacement for herself,” he said And that, he added with a smile, includes dying. Emily doesn’t know this yet, but this year the city has decided to start an annual Westcott Award that will go to volunteers that go above and beyond what is expected — just as Emily herself has done for all these years. “When I first moved here it was culture shock,” Emily said recently over a cup of coffee. “I love it now. Everyone is friendly, lot’s of nice people. And I kind of like being a big fish in a little pond” But what Emily enjoys most, she said, is the “civic stuff.” Which is, once again, to the benefit of Sequim’s citizens. n
The run down Things to know about Emily... >> >> >> >> >> >> >>
Has a 172 4-seater Cessna airplane named Sally Has a black and white cat named Queenie Drives a 1989 Buick Reatta Eats out most evenings because it’s not fun to eat alone Once owned and managed the former Red Ranch Motel and restaurant Former assistant principal of Port Angeles High School Hopes never to have drive on Interstate 5 in Seattle
Right: Attending civic meetings is part of Emily Westcott’s daily life. Here she has a cup of coffee during a break at an informational meeting about the city’s future.
18 LOP Spring 2014