Spotlight on Mimi Sutton

“I love this place!” enthuses Mimi (Miriam) Sutton of our Shipley Center. “Everyone is wonderful and there’s always something going on! The trips are well organized and are a fair price; and the Café has such good food at reasonable prices!”

High praise, indeed, from Shipley Center’s newest board member, who came aboard as an appointee in December 2018. Already Mimi has taken on the formidable jobs of chairing the Social Events and Volunteer Coordinator committees (more about those later).

Mimi is a Pacific Northwest gas, through and through. The eldest of four girls,s he was born and raised in Seattle, as were her Mother and Grandmother. Except for twelve years in San Diego and Chicago, she returned to the are and vows she “will never leave the state of Washington again”.

After graduating from Roosevelt High School, Mimi married a navy man, and it was off to San Diego and later the Chicago area before returning to the Seattle area in 1978 where she raised 3 sons.

Fast forward a few years. Mimi is now single and working for the Seattle Police Department as a dispatcher. “The best job I ever had,” she jokes, “I told cops where to go and they paid me for it!” It was where, in 1990, she met Larry, a police officer, who was to become her “special guy”. He retired in 1992, and she, ten years later.

Now,, how did they get to Sequim? Well, Larry had always wanted to live in Sequim. After he retired, he worked as a Puget Sound Blood Center courier which made Saturday runs to Port Angeles and Forks. He would use those trips to scout out Sequim and eventually found the “perfect home” for Mimi and him.

Did she really want to move that far from her kids and grandchildren? In 2005, Mimi said, “Yes,” and they moved to Sequim!

The couple loved to take road trips. So, they purchased a 23-foot travel trailer and vowed to go to all 50 United States! Larry and Mimi achieved their goal, finishing off the last 13 states in the Northeast in 2014. Shortly thereafter, Larry developed Alzheimer’s and passed away in 2017. It was during this time that Mimi credits Shipley Center as being a Godsend; people were always here and she could find respite from her caregiving stress at home.

Mimi enjoys quilting and crotcheting, and “knits constantly”. Having three groups at Shipley Center keeps her interested in continuing these crafts which also provides a compassionate service to the community, many items donated to the Boys & Girls Club and area hospitals.

In total, between her three boys and Larry’s two sons and a daughter, Mimi has 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grands, all of whom have been recipients of her needle talent. Most are in the Seattle area, the two families in California and one in Alaska giving Mimi “somewhere to go on vacation!”