Hard Workers Abound on Orcas Island: Let’s Honor Them!

— by Lin McNulty and Margie Doyle —

For a tourist, vacation “paradise,” many year-round Orcas Island residents are renowned for their work ethic, which seems to be “Life is uncertain, get your work done first.”

With many businesses and non-profits being entrepreneurial start-ups and artistic manifestations, islanders throw themselves into their work with a passion and joy that makes their enterprises rewarding if not remunerative.

We at Orcas Issues  think we should recognize our fellow Workers of the Island.

Given that we’re a small community, an island of five “hamlets” — Olga, Eastsound, West Sound, Deer Harbor and Orcas — still, countless workers labor unseen to many.

We want to honor them as Labor Day approaches on Monday, Sept. 5.

Please let us know people whom you have witnessed working indefatigably at their labor — whether on salary or a wage earner, whether a business owner or a part-timer. Employers, note your employees, and vice-versa; pleased customers, trumpet the great service you got!

As demographics show that many Orcas Islanders’ per capita income is based on “passive income” such as investments, retirement accounts and the like, we’re limiting this celebration of Labor Day to those who are actively employed on the island, whether they’re wage earners, salaried employees, or the lowly business owner whose overhead eats up potential profit just so they can continue to serve you! It’s an island truism that many of those who work the hardest accomplish the most, so it’s no surprise that in addition to the jobs by which islanders make a living, many are also involved in volunteer and philanthropic activities too.

Here’s some that come to mind in the “world” I travel:

• Bev and Bobby Olmstead of the Olga Café and Orcas Golf Course;
• Clyde and April Duke of Random Howse and the Athletic Building;
• Keith Whitaker, Business Manager of the Orcas Island School District;
• Theron Sunderland of Country Corner.

But I’m sure you see a wider landscape:

• Auto Mechanics
• Caregivers
• Innkeepers
• Waiters/Cooks
• Builders
• Childcare workers
• Bookkeepers
• Gardeners
• Excavators
• Teachers

Workers who are not simply marking time and drawing a paycheck, but who power through their positions with joy and enthusiasm in sharing their world with the rest of us.

Let’s honor them — just write in to editor@theorcasonian.com with a brief (up to 100 word) description of why this person’s work should be acknowledged. If you can, send a picture (preferably a jpeg) along with your acknowledgment. If you can’t, then we’ll try to get a photo of them. We’ll post these “notables” daily and present a collage of them on Labor Day.

No competition, just acknowledgment. No volunteers and no elected officials, please, but non-profit heads and government workers, sure!

Labor Day, Monday, September 5, was first celebrated on a Tuesday on September 5, 1882 in New York City by the Central Labor Union.

By 1894, 25 states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

Labor Day on Orcas is recognized as both the end of tourist season, and for those who have served tourists all summer, the end of the “90 Days of August.”