Women Honoring Women awards Patti Speelmon

By Reader Staff

The Women Honoring Women committee recently announced Patti Speelmon will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her as “a doer, a leader, a giver, and an individual who never seems to run out of energy and enthusiasm. She never hesitates to give assistance where needed without seeking acknowledgment.”

Patti Speelmon.

Speelmon has been a member of Bonner County and the Clark Fork community for more than 50 years, including at the Bonner County Extension Office, where she collaborated with 4-H leaders to ensure participants had all the necessary information and materials they needed to be successful. She also brought her vision for the annual fair event to life.

Speelmon can be found at almost every Clark Fork home sporting event, taking tickets, keeping score, or cooking or baking for bake sales, fundraisers and team meals. She supports the local soup kitchen each Monday, including delivering meals to many homes.

For many years Speelmon volunteered as an EMT for Clark Fork Fire and Ambulance. She also served on Search and Rescue. 

She is an expert quilter, creating special pieces for Sandpoint High School and Clark Fork High School graduates, newborns in hospitals across the country, coworkers, friends, family and anyone who else walks into her life.

Speelmon and her husband of 55 years, Lewis, raised two children — Melvin and Wendi. They also have four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her nominators have repeatedly mentioned how strong she is from battling and overcoming cancer to handling the loss of their son too young in life.

According to her nomination letters, Speelmon is a true Woman of Wisdom and deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

According to Women Honoring Women, Speelmon “possesses vision and achieves goals through collaboration. She exhibits a love of learning through the pursuit of knowledge by study or experience. She shows a commitment to the Bonner County community and its members, and has had a positive impact, such as in the areas of art, music, theater, dance, sports, education and service. She demonstrates dedicated leadership that results in admiration and respect from others. 

“She is an inspiration to others and an example for future generations of women,” the committee added. “She faces life’s challenges with grace and courage, and lives with dignity, integrity and honor.”

The gala luncheon honoring the Women of Wisdom is scheduled for 11 a.m., Saturday, May 7 at the Ponderay Event Center (401 Bonner Mall Way). For reservations — which will be accepted until Thursday, April 28 — contact Diane Stockton at 208-290-6362 or [email protected]. Tickets are $30, including the meal and a program introducing the 2022 Women of Wisdom to celebrate their Lifetime Achievement Award.