Few Port Townsend residents are able to connect the past to the future with as much authority as Heather Dudley-Nolette. A fifth-generation member of the town's founding Hastings family, she spoke about that connection before 200 people on Sunday, Jan. 25 as she accepted an award as Business Leader of the Year from the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.

"Go back and remember," she said to the room full of business owners, "why you started your business in the first place. Remember the passion that drove you, why you thought it was a really good idea." She called upon them to reconnect with that passion in 2015, to share it with friends, and – when necessary – "to ask them for help."

Passion and seeking help were themes woven throughout the two hour celebration of civic good works and business leadership.

Gee Heckscher, the ex-Marine and retired architect devoted to historic preservation, was named the 2014 Port Townsend Citizen of the Year at the annual Chamber awards event.

Chauncey Tudhope-Locklear was named the Young Professional of the year.

Hecksher's path to becoming Citizen of the Year was a direct one – directly busy. Since he moved here in 2007 to manage the restoration of the Jefferson County Courthouse clock tower, he has been volunteering his time, expertise and money for all manner of projects that mark his commitment to the historic architecture of the area. Most recently he has been a tireless unpaid consultant and project manager for the restoration and renovation tasks that face the Fort Worden Public Development Authority, now holding a 50-year lease on 73 century-old buildings at Fort Worden.

With fellow PDA board member Bill Brown, a retired construction manager, Heckscher has surveyed all of those buildings, some by crawling on his belly beneath flooring, and detailed a 10-year capital maintenance plan. He has already led renovation projects on two buildings.

Earlier, he used his expertise to assist the city's Historic Preservation Commission, the city Planning Commission, the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and the Washington Trust. "It's a rare day when you don't see Gee and his pickup at Fort Worden," said a nominator.

"This community turned out to be so much more than I ever expected," said Heckscher, accepting the award. And he responded. "My real estate agent told me to be careful," he said. "The first time you raise your hand, it's over. We've got your number. I guess it kind of snow-balled."

Other Citizen nominees were, Heckscher said, equally deserving.

Ian Keith has been donating his designing and construction talents even longer than Heckscher, donating hours of back-breaking work to make possible major renovations to the Key City Theatre, Quimper Mercantile, the Jefferson County Museum of Art and History, and the city's Carnegie Library. If you want to find him these days, make a trip to the new Northwind Arts Center, coming together in the downtown Waterman & Katz Building, where again he donates every hour of skilled work to make the dream possible.

Debbie Steele's seven short years in Port Townsend have had a clear impact on the lives of women and girls. She led the way for the Jefferson County Community Foundation to create a fund devoted to women and girls who needed a helping hand, and invented the enormously popular Wearable Art Show as a fundraiser for the same cause. She supports classes that prepare women for the job market, and has reached out to girls in high school and middle school. She also co-chaired the Centrum gala.

The award was presented by the 2013 winner, Bill James.

BUSINESS LEADER

Dudley-Nolette's award, formally called the Tim Caldwell Business Leader of the Year award, marked the work she did with her business partner, Frank DePalma, to launch the CoLab, the highly wired cooperative working space in the Miller-Burkett Building (1889) at Washington and Taylor streets. It also marked Dudley-Nolette's work as project manager for the Hastings Building/Hastings Landing Project, the proposed restoration and expansion of a historic waterfront building that has been in her family for over a century. Her Hastings ancestors were among the town's founders 160 years ago.

A stalwart volunteer and board leader of the Port Townsend Main Street Program, Dudley-Nolette spoke for all small business owners.

"Running a business is very hard," she said. Her family's first generation in Port Townsend were entrepreneurs and builders. But later generations, including her own parents Harry and Zoe Ann Dudley, were instead public servants or – like Dudley-Nolette herself, an actor – artists. "When we come to this work it's with a sense that this is about doing what's best for our community, for better or worse. Sometimes it doesn't result in… what do they call it? Profit!"

Also nominated was Susan Jacob-Humiston who has boosted Sport Townsend and donated time and money to support the Rhody Run, donated sporting gear such as shoes to youth in the community, helped guide Port Townsend Rotary, Jumping Mouse and J.C. MASH, the health clinic for the under-served.

Malcolm Dorn was the third nominee. Dorn moved to this area as a farmer in the mid-1980s and helped launch what is now a robust artisan farm movement and economy. He shifted over to home construction, starting Wallyworks Construction, and became a homebuilder of renown. He purchased the building complex surrounding Sweet Laurette's in Uptown Port Townsend and used it as an incubator space for new businesses and non-profits. And then he helped launch the Chimacum Farmstand, now a magnet for healthy locally grown goods.

The award was presented by the 2013 winner, Crystie Kisler.

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL

Chauncey Tudhope-Locklear, named winner of the Young Professional award, is a 2006 Port Townsend High School graduate who launched the ReCyclery, a nonprofit bicycle workshop and retailer, and its "Step On It" program to get school kids to bike and walk as an alternative to fossil fuel transportation.

YPN, or Young Professionals' Network, was launched under the umbrella of the Chamber four years ago, according to founder Jordan Eades, co-owner of Hope Roofing. "We decided that Jefferson County would become an island of opportunity for young people," said Eades, who launched the special network with Teresa Verraes, director of the Chamber.

Since 2007, Tudhope-Locklear's ReCyclery has not only been a non-profit business, but the hub of a localized movement to get people of all ages out of cars and onto bikes or into walking shoes. He is the ReCyclery's "Chief Biking Officer."

"Bikes," said Tudhope-Locklear, "solve some of the nation's greatest issues – obesity among young people, and fossil fuels, and they move the happiness index."

Other nominees were Damian Wright, founder of Wright Away Delivery, who has created a new business out of a simple idea and whose fleet has grown from a single scooter to several vehicles including an all-electric Leaf car. Wright is also a regular and devoted volunteer at the Port Townsend Food Bank. The other nominee was Wren Farris, who invested her energy and life savings into the launch of her new business, Soak on the Sound.

The award was presented by 2013 winner Erica Delma.

The awards event was led by Will O'Donnell, a Chamber board member and director of the Port Townsend Farmers Market. Verraes also gave an upbeat report about the chamber, noting that while many chambers stretch to get 25 percent of their businesses in as members, the Jefferson County Chamber has more than 40 percent. Amanda Funaro, another co-founder of the YPN, is the current Chamber president.