Unselfishness leads to reward – Rotary to honor Sutherland with Achievement Award

Published 4:54 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

By Ruth Longoria

When it comes to longtime residents looking out for the interests of the Island, few names come to mind faster than Marguerite Sutherland, says Gordon Rasmussen, chair of the 2005 Rotary Achievement Award.

That’s why the Rotary Club of Mercer Island will present the semi-annual award to Sutherland during a ceremony at its noon meeting next Tuesday, March 29, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

There have been 10 such awards given to outstanding community members in the past 13 years, Rasmussen says.

“Marguerite isn’t a Rotary member, and you don’t have to be one to get the award,” Rasmussen says. “But, she’s earned it. Everyone that knows about her says she should get the award.”

Sutherland looks for ways to improve quality of life on the Island for everyone, Rasmussen says.

“She does things not for her own grandisement, but for everyone’s good,” he says. “And, though she’s been here a long time, she’s not looking back, she’s looking forward.”

Sutherland was born in Grayling, Mich., and earned a bachelor of science degree in pre-medicine. She had intended to pursue a career in medicine, but there wasn’t money for her to go to medical school, she says.

After helping put her now- ex-husband through graduate school, the couple moved to the Seattle area.

In 1962, she founded Seattle Country Day School in Burien. During the four years she operated the school, the enrollment grew from just three students to more than 90.

Sutherland moved to the Island in 1966 when her former husband got a job at The Boeing Co. After the couple divorced, she raised their four children: Peter, of Fullerton, Calif.; Catharine Williams, of London, England; Amy Sutherland, of Kirkland; and Elisabeth Brown, of Mercer Island. She now has seven grandchildren.

Sutherland loves life on the Island partially because the surrounding water, trees and greenery reminded her of summers she spent as a child with her family at her grandmother’s home in Beaver Island, Mich.

Through leadership in numerous civic and other community projects on the Island and surrounding cities, and in addition to nurturing her own children, Sutherland has fulfilled her desire to help others, spread her passion for music and education, and preserve the environment.

She has started or been on the founding board of several organizations. They include Classical Music Supporters, which funds a program to provide musical enrichment programs in Seattle schools; the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Committee to Preserve Pioneer Park. The Pioneer Park group was begun in 1969 to oppose the city’s plan to log the park and build a golf course. The group now works to maintain the park, its trails and forestation; Preserve Land for Agriculture Now, is another organization which monitors land issues and litigates to enforce agricultural protection issues.Another organization, the Mercer Island Environmental Council, opposed original plans for Interstate 90, which would have left the Island with concrete pillars and no entrances to the roadway.

It was through her prompting that transportation officials decided to make tunnels and the lids with parks above them. She also was instrumental in changing the design of the downtown area, which prior to the 1970s was primarily asphalt and tall gas station signs to lure motorists from the freeway, she says.

“I’m very interested in architecture and urban design,” she said.

So much so that following eight years on the City Council, she agreed to serve on the city’s Beautification Committee and the Design Commission, which she also instigated.

Sutherland has had a lifelong commitment of service to her community and her family, says her daughter, Elisabeth Brown, 38.

“I’m so glad the Rotary is giving her this award, she’s so deserving of it,” Brown said. “She’s an exceptional woman, a Renaissance woman, involved in so many things: From her music to her dedication to preserving for us all the attributes of the Island we all take for granted. She’s incredible.”