Doug Clark: ‘Woman of the Year’ is too mild a description

This probably won’t surprise anyone, but I normally don’t keep tabs on who wins the Business and Professional Women of Wenatchee’s “Woman of the Year” award.

Welcome to Exception Day.

There are two good reasons for telling you about Kimberly Gormley, who won the award the other day.

First, Bonnie Jensen, an old friend and the former mayor of Wilbur, has been hounding me to write about this wheat farmer’s wife and mother of two who lives in Waterville, about 30 miles east of Wenatchee.

I know Bonnie. She won’t stop until I surrender.

Second, I finally took time to learn what this woman has been doing to help the victims of last summer’s devastating Carlton Complex fires.

“Absolutely remarkable,” were the two words that popped into my mind.

Remember the fires in Okanogan County?

You’re forgiven if you don’t.

We’ve had so many disasters of late that you can’t keep track without a Doom-and-Gloom scorecard.

Dubbed the biggest wildfire in state history, these lightning-caused blazes burned some 256,000 acres and at least 325 homes last July and August.

Many of the victims lost everything – until Gormley came along.

In the following months she has become the conduit for contributions, distributing food, supplies, cash and 14 trailers to people forced to live in tents and struggling to survive.

“I put myself in their shoes and thought, what would I do if my kids woke up one day and we had nothing – no socks or a bed?” Gormley said.

“If you can do something to help someone else, why wouldn’t you?”

That generous spirit earned Gormley two tickets to a future Seattle Seahawks game through coach Pete Carroll’s “Compete to Make a Difference” contest.

Gormley’s Samaritan ways inspired another Waterville resident to enter her in the contest that acknowledges those who “go above and beyond to make a positive impact in the lives of those around them.”

Gormley knew nothing about it until that friend, Chris Biggar, told her she had won.

“I thought, ‘You must be on crack,’ ” said Gormley, laughing.

“Then I go home and there’s a message on the answering machine from the Seattle Seahawks.”

Gormley asked her husband, Gary, why he hadn’t answered the phone. Thought it was a crank call, he told her.

Brought up in nearby Almira, Gormley said she was reared with those small-town virtues and values that are synonymous with life in rural America.

Gormley owns a sign-making shop in Waterville. Already known as a tireless volunteer at her kids’ school and for fundraisers and various civic causes, she didn’t think twice about helping those harmed when the wildfires devastated nearby Pateros.

“I maybe know three people in Pateros,” she added. “But they’re my neighbors.”

And so Gormley and two friends, Windy Osborne and Kim Katovitch, planned to go help with the relief effort.

Before leaving, however, Gormley said a community member gave them $1,000 to help the recovery.

“We bought batteries, every kind of battery you can get for flashlights and radios,” she said. “People sleeping in tents with no power or water need batteries.”

One thing you can always count on in a small town: Chatter moves at the speed of light.

Soon everyone knew that Gormley was the contact for fire victim aid.

“I feel like Santa Claus,” she said. “I don’t know why, but people keep giving me money. I keep cashing the checks and giving it away.”

And not just money – some have helped by giving trailers to pass along.

Gormley told a story about a family she met who had lost their home. Gormley arranged to have a small trailer stocked with food and necessities delivered to them.

Gormley asked the father if the trailer would work for them.

He told her later during a phone call that he felt like he had won the lottery.

“I started bawling,” she said.

Gormley opened an online fundraiser to “Help the Pateros Fire Victims” at gofundme.com. She also has a “huge support system” of donors who use her Facebook account.

Money, she said, has come in from as far away as Alaska, Indiana and California, with the total at $31,000 and growing.

“People keep giving,” the Woman of the Year said. “This is a lot bigger than I ever thought it would get.

“I cry every day and I’m not a crier, either. It’s just been so emotional, the last couple of months. I don’t think my heart can get any fuller.”