Harriet Weber given Chamber's Lifetime Achievement Award

QUINCY – Harriet Weber – farmer's wife and partner, entrepreneur, educator, volunteer, leader – was presented the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce's Lifetime Achievement award at the Chamber and Rotary Club Auction in November.

“It was very humbling,” she said. “There are a lot of other people who are very deserving.”

When you read the long list of achievements attached to Weber's name you wonder how there could have been a different choice. Weber is a farmer's wife and partner and still has had time for countless other involvements.

“One thing (the award) has done is motivate me to keep on going,” she said.

There was a second award at the auction. Double Diamond Fruit, owned by the Warren Morgan family, was named Quincy Business of the Year.

Double Diamond was established in 1986, but the family has been a part of the Chamber for 40 years. It employs 130 people and has an “excellent” hiring record, according to the award citation.

“Their facility goes above and beyond health and safety requirements,” the citation stated.

Double Diamond is also known for community involvement, always ready to donate to and help with civic projects.

In the award citation for Weber, the Chamber traced Weber's life back to the beginning, noting she learned to walk twice. Born in Germany to an Air Force family, she came to the U.S. by ocean liner.

It was on that ship that Weber took her first baby steps. However, when she got to the U.S., she had sea legs and had to learn to walk all over again.

“Once she learned to walk,” the citation noted, “she took off and hasn't looked back.”

Weber has been involved with several non-profit endeavors, most notably the Quincy Valley Historical Society and the Quincy Valley School. She joined the Society in 2002 and was the founding administrator of the school in 2007.

As a member of the Society, Weber wrote successful grant applications that led to the restoration of the Reiman-Simmons House (the QVHS museum) and the Pioneer Church that sits on the same grounds. She was the project manager for both renovations.

Weber developed the Time Traveler Field Trips in which all Quincy Public School third-graders participate. A museum program, the field trips are an effort to give youngsters a history and understanding of their community.

Weber also developed two teacher trunks – filled with artifacts – and lesson plans teachers use to prepare the third-graders for the outings. And she wrote a 23-page activity booklet for every student who visits the museum.

Weber has designed the exhibits at the museum, and she is the Society's public events coordinator.

At the school, Weber had a role similar to principal for the school's first four years. A headmaster was brought in this year, and she remains the education director.

Weber started in eduction in 1978, teaching kindergarten and special education at Soap Lake. She left teaching for the early rearing of two sons and returned when her younger son started school. She taught at the Valley Academy of Learning in Wenatchee while her son attended there.

Known as a volunteer among volunteers, Weber was active for years in Allied Arts. She chaired Quincy's centennial committee in 2007. In 2002, she was given the Chamber's Volunteer of the Year Award.

Weber has assisted her husband David on the family farm since they married in 1979. In 2002, she started Wheatsnax with her then 12-year-old son Tom.

“Tom came up with all the recipes. I baked them,” she said.

Tom has moved on with his own life. Weber still makes Wheatsnax but only for a couple of outlets, White Trail Produce and her own The Grainery.

In 2010, Weber opened The Grainery, a healthful sandwich cafe. She did it “because the town needed one.”