2009 Honors of the Association:
Presented to Gail Rothwell
Honors of the Association are awarded to an individual
who has exhibited an active participation in the profession and has made an outstanding contribution which has benefited the professions.
When we plant a seed, we hope to find the time and attention to nurture the seed and manage the soil to ensure that the seed establishes solid roots, takes hold, and grows into a long-lasting and valuable part of our garden.
One of our Honors recipients this year has been a tireless “gardener” if you will. Certainly advocating for WSHA in general, and but especially for the profession and our association in one specific area. This individual is known by many as a hard worker, giving to clients and colleagues across the lifetime of a career.
As a colleague, mentor, and leader, this individual has been central to preparing the soil and planting a seed that has taken hold. She has spent tireless hours gathering information, meeting with colleagues in various spots around the state to inform the public, writing letters, attending and speaking at legislative sessions, reviewing legislative documents, and preparing in-services and presentations for colleagues. She has used every avenue possible to educate and inform both the public and the speech and hearing
profession — to ensure that a seed took hold — to make a significant, meaningful and long-lasting contribution to the profession, all as a volunteer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”
This speaks so well to the work of our honoree. We recognize the significant contributions of service to WSHA, our 2009 Honor Recipient, Gail Rothwell.
2009 Honors of the Association:
Presented to Kent Yockey
Tanya Moore is quoted as saying: “A person’s world is only as big as their heart.” Our Honoree has a wonderfully huge heart and has made this world, our professional world, a better place. And we are so grateful that this person is in our professional family.
This individual’s strength of character, richness of mind, kindness of heart, and gifts as a clinician, teacher and mentor have shaped important life lessons for many clinicians in our profession. One colleague shared, “This individual interacted with students and patients with unbelievable patience, insight, encouragement and creativity while treating every one with dignity and compassion.”
Throughout a distinguished career, this individual has epitomized all that speech-language pathologists should strive to become. Touching the lives of thousands of patients and their families, and it is accurate to say that each life was positively impacted by the encounter
• Instilling best practice in service
• Inspiring and aspiring to uphold the standards of the
professions
• Serving countless times in an advisory capacity to
committees,workgroups, and colleagues in the association
• Serving the association in vital capacities, especially as a
president of our association
This individual is also a genuinely kind soul. As a colleague noted, he truly and honestly laughs until he cries, and what a contagious laughter it is. He has the ability to recognize the absurdities of life, to find the “lemonade” in any difficult situation and to lighten the load of everyone he meets.
For a distinguished career that includes outstanding contributions
to our professions, we recognize our 2009 Honors recipient Kent Yockey.