MARYSVILLE — Looking back, people will remember 2009 for a variety of reasons.

Some may remember it for the Central Annexation which added nearly 20,000 residents to Marysville. While others may remember 2009 as the year the new Community Food Bank opened.

And 2009 can be remembered for those we lost — some like Simeon “Sim” Wilson who passed after a lifetime of service and others like Timothy Brenton, a Marysville resident and Seattle Police Officer who was tragically taken from us far too soon.

The following are just a few of the stories from The Marysville Globe in 2009.

January

The Marysville Community Food Bank officially opened its new facility, located at 4150 88th Street NE, Jan. 5 with a ribbon cutting and open house.

“It’s been a long and tedious process,” Food Bank President Mike Mulligan said, just before Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall took hold of the oversized scissors. “We’re proud of this building and we have it because of the help we’ve received from many, many members of this community.”

The 5,600-square-foot facility sits just behind St. Mary’s Catholic Church and represents a significant upgrade from the Food Bank’s former 3,400-square-foot building next to the Marysville YMCA.

For much of the city of Marysville, it was “the flood that wasn’t,” when it came to the severe flooding which hit parts of north Snohomish County Jan. 7-8. Yes, flood waters did raise the Allen and Quil Ceda creek levels by as much as three feet, according to estimates from city of Marysville Park Maintenance Manager Mike Robinson. And yes, walking trails and other ares of both Jennings Park, including the Lions Centennial Pavilion, and Strawberry Fields, including the off-leash dog park, were closed to the public due to the flooding of those creeks. Both Robinson and city of Marysville Public Works Operations Manager Terry Hawley deemed the city to be in excellent shape following a week of flooding throughout north Snohomish County.

On Jan. 20, many area residents were able to watch history unfold on television, among them a packed room of students, parents, teachers and staff at the Marysville School District offices, who watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama on the big screens in the board room. Margorie Serge is a high school teacher with the Marysville home school partnership program, and she was able to bring approximately 60 students to the viewing, most of them in the sophomore, junior and senior years. “We’re hoping they see this as a call to action,” Serge said. “We’ve been striving for citizenship building in our program. We’re hoping that our kids will really become part of this and realize that it’s up to all of us to make this country go in the course we want it to go in.”

Caldie Rogers’ fellow members of the Greater Marysville Chamber of Commerce surprised her Jan. 30 by recognizing her 16 years of service to the organization. Speaking at a Business Before Hours meeting at the Tulalip Casino, Chamber Chair Al Aldrich noted that Rogers, the president and CEO of the Chamber, joined the organization 16 years ago in January. He linked this anniversary to the centennial anniversary of the Chamber in December 2008 by recalling the progress that the Chamber has made during Rogers’ era. “The Chamber was burdened with a heavy debt and a terrible scandal, and Caldie was given less than a year to salvage this organization,” said Aldrich, whose praise for Rogers was echoed by longtime Chamber Board members Dave Toyer, John Bell and Robyn Warren. “Arming herself with a robust and courageous new board of directors, she worked countless hours rebuilding the community’s trust and paying off all debts.”

They left the evening of Jan. 17 and were back home by Jan. 25, but for students, staff and parents of Totem Middle School, their week-long trip will remain one of the most memorable events in their lives. The 32 seventh- and eighth-grade students were accompanied by four school staff members and a number of parents, acting as chaperones, when they went to Washington, D.C., to witness firsthand the Jan. 21 inauguration of President Barack Obama. The group had enough time to tour through the nation’s capitol and its surrounding area, where they stopped by the Smithsonian Museum and Mount Vernon, as well as new York City, where they visited Times Square and “Ground Zero.”

February

Attendees of all ages were well aware of the significance of the Feb. 3 steel topping-off ceremony at the site of the new Marysville-Getchell High School. Marysville School District staff, community members and construction workers were joined by 18 students, currently enrolled in the Small Learning Communities of Marysville-Pilchuck High School, in witnessing the installation of the final steel beam in the first of Marysville-Getchell High School’s five buildings. The 2,400-pound beam will be part of a classroom ceiling, but wasn’t hoisted into place by a crane until the 18 students in attendance all got to sign it.

“If you must do something, Karen, it must be a celebration of the good times.” Those were the words of Simeon Robert “Sim” Wilson III to his wife, Karen, about his memorial and on Feb. 22 Wilson’s family and friends gathered at the Everett Transit Station to celebrate the 81 years of Sim Wilson’s life, which included decades of editing and publishing The Marysville Globe and The Arlington Times, as well as serving in the Washington State House of Representatives.

March

The Lakewood School District’s March 10 open house not only included kindergarten registration and eighth-grade parent orientation, but it also served as a celebration on the Lakewood School District’s 95th anniversary. Photos of former students and school staff were displayed beside old class yearbooks and maps of the area, with some pictures mounted on poster boards while others were collected in albums or projected as part of a computerized slideshow.

The Marysville Strawberry Festival made “Magical Fantasy” the them of the 2009 April Friesner Memorial Royalty Scholarship Pageant in the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium March 14. The royalty Candidates’ Pageant performances followed the seven public appearances they’d already made in February. Sara Clayton was crowned as this year’s Junior Royalty, while M-PHS senior Azzlinn Morales and junior Rebecca Thomas were crowned as the Senior Royalty Princesses, receiving scholarships of $2,000 each. Fellow M-PHS junior Shelby Hintze took this year’s crown for Senior Royalty Queen, with its $3,000 scholarship.

Law enforcement agents from across the country were able to hone their skills at the Tulalip Resort Hotel March 23-37, as the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office staged the National Sheriff’s Association First Responder Program. According to Sgt. Anthony Aston, lead instructor with the National Sheriff’s Association First Responder Program and a 24-year veteran of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, the goal of the program is prepare officers to respond to major emergencies, including terrorist attacks, with a focus on saving lives, preventing further harm and protecting potential evidence. Aston explained that the nine law enforcement agencies whose members attend included more than 30 officers from as nearby as Marysville, Tulalip and Seattle, and as far away as Iowa, North Carolina and Massachusetts. He noted that the Department of Homeland Security provides these agencies with grants which completely cover the costs of training, transporting and hosting their members, regardless of venue or jurisdiction.

April

More than 900 walkers gathered at the Tulalip Amphitheatre on the morning of April 4 to take steps toward finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. The Greater Washington Chapter of the National MS Society set a fundraising goal of $2.2 million for its 19th annual walk this year, and staged walks in Snohomish County, Tacoma, Olympia, Bellingham, Bainbridge Island, Kennewick and Kitsap County April 4, followed by a walk in Seattle April 5. Tulalip hosted the three-mile walk in Snohomish County, as both individuals and teams made a circuit around the Tulalip Resort Hotel and Casino.

DeAnna Emborski believes that local newspapers are “lifelines” for their communities and, as someone who has already been involved in the local community, she looks forward to supporting it further as the newly hired publisher of The Marysville Globe and The Arlington Times, as well as the Wenatchee and Bellingham business journals. Emborski has lived in the area for about a year and she’s already adopted her new home state, and the local area, in many ways.

Many patrons of the Red Robin at Lakewood Crossing were surprised to find their meals being served by wait-staff who already work demanding jobs. “I’m interning here,” Marysville Municipal Court Judge Fred Gillings told Mount Vernon residents June Olson, Sue Jones and Julie Scoot, as he served them. “It’s my first day on the job.” Gillings joined more than two dozen members of the Marysville Police Department in raising funds for Special Olympics through the annual “Tip-A-Cop” fundraiser, which marked its third year at the Lakewood Crossing Red Robin, and its eighth year of participation from the Marysville Police Department.

May

The 15th Annual Fishing Derby, at the Kiwanis Pond in Jennings Park May 2, was almost too popular for its own good, as fishing families literally lined the banks all around the pond so thick that the biggest obstacle to catching a fish was the risk of competing fishers’ lines catching each other as they were cast out. A lack of fish or fishing poles certainly proved to be no problem as the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club stocked the pond with approximately $750 worth of fish the night before and the club joined John Martinez, of John’s Sporting Goods in supplying close to 100 fishing poles. Members of the Marysville Kiwanis Club estimated that they served close to 400 pancake breakfasts during the morning, while city of Marysville Parks Maintenance Manager Mike Robinson estimated that as many as 700 attendees, if not more, stopped by throughout the three-hour event, yielding a haul of approximately 300 pounds of food for the Marysville Community Food Bank.

Totem Middle School hosted a unique gathering May 16, that a number of its participants hope might become a new tradition. The Everett Community College First Nations Club, the Marysville-Pilchuck High School United Native Club and the Tulalip Heritage High School came together to conduct the first “United Schools Celebration” pow wow.

Mary Kirkland has been selected as the parade grand marshal for the 2009 Marysville Strawberry Festival, and it’s perhaps not an exaggeration to say that no one is more surprised than her. “When Carol Kapua contacted me to let me know, I was literally speechless,” said Kirkland, owner of Hilton Pharmacy on Third Street. “I didn’t know what to say and I was totally not expecting it. I fell humbled, honored and privileged.”

The Marysville Cemetery received more than 100 visitors for this year’s observance of Memorial Day, conducted May 25 by the Marysville American Legion Post 178. Jim Sewell, Post Commander for the Marysville American Legion, thanked the rows of seated attendees, as well as those standing because there wasn’t enough chairs, for taking the time to attend on such a warm and sunny day. The day’s theme of “Remembering those who have gone before us,” resonated throughout his remarks.The Marysville Rotary Education Foundation awarded $52,000 in scholarships to 28 students from the Marysville and Lakewood school districts during their 2009 Scholarship Awards Ceremony May 27 at Cedarcrest Middle School. Marysville Rotary Education foundation Chair Daryn Bundy explained that the annual ceremony had been moved to the evening to make it easier for the scholarship recipients’ family members and friends to attend. “Today, we honor students from all walks of life,” Bundy said. “Students who have achieved high honors in the classroom, as well as those who have overcome great odds just to graduate. We congratulate you all on your achievements.”

June

The Everett Events Center was packed with proud families June 5, as the Marysville-Pilchuck Class of 2009 celebrated their commencement, while the Marysville Secondary Campus was kept busy June 6, as both the Marysville Arts and Technology High School and the Tulalip Heritage High School graduating classes of 2009 conducted their commencements in the gymnasium. Their class sizes might not have been as big as that of M-PHS, but the graduating classes of Marysville Mountain View High School and Grace Academy achieved no less in order to obtain their diplomas. What a long, crazy journey it has been. For the Lakewood High School Class of 2009, commencement exercises June 11 marked the end of one journey for the 154 graduates and the beginning of a new one.

Marysville was bustling in mid-June as the 78th Annual Marysville Strawberry Festival presented a diversity of attractions for attendees of all ages. Just some of the annual events included a carnival, arts and crafts market, fashion show, talent show, trike races, berry run, kiddies parade, grand parade and fireworks show.

Jim Pankiewicz has spent 34 of his 36 years as an educator teaching at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, so it’s no wonder that, to his students, to their parents, and to the surrounding business community, he’s simply known as “Mr. P,” because with three and a half decades there, the M-PHS marketing teacher and DECA advisor has practically become an institution. And after making a difference in the lives of so many students, Mr. P retired June 13. “I leave M-PHS with a deep, profound and enduring sense of gratitude,” Pankiewicz said. “I want to thank my students, my peers, the parents and the business community for the heartfelt support they’ve shown me.”

The Equine Rescue Association held a memorial fundraiser June 28, not only to honor the passing of its founder, Dr. Vel Moore, but also to enlist support from the community in carrying on Moore’s legacy. Moore passed away May 28, at the age of 77, and Sara Losey, the barn director and one of the instructors at the ERA, was on hand June 28, at the memorial tent for Moore to show off Moore’s resume, as well as the sketches and paintings Moore did of the horses to accompany the biographies that he’d written about them. “She drew every horse she’d met in her life,” Losey said. “We’ll miss having her artwork for our yearly calendars.”

July

Marysville City Council member Lee Phillips proved to be the lone dissenting vote when the City Council and the Snohomish County Council voted July 13 to authorize Mayor Dennis Kendall to sign the interlocal agreement between the city and the county, providing the annexation to the city of the unincorporated urban growth area in roughly the center of Marysville.

Pat and Kathy Regan, who have run the Cedar Crest Family Restaurant and Grill at the Cedarcrest Golf Course for more than six years, have agreed to leave the premises by Nov. 6, but they will be doing so with two checks from the city of Marysville – one for $30,000 to cover the Regans’ legal fees, and another for $25,000 to the Regans themselves. The settlement was agreed upon by the city and the Regans July 6, after months of legal wrangling between the two sides.

With temperatures over the July 25-26 weekend reaching the upper 80s and low 90s through the rest of the week, north county residents sought relief of all kinds. By the afternoon of July 26, the Marysville K-Mart had sold out of swimming pools. Only one gazebo remained in the store, waiting for a customer to come in and pick up the display model. Marysville responded to record-high temperatures the week of July 27-31 by opening locations as “cooling stations.” The Marysville Fire District opened Shoultes Station 62 and Sunnyside Station 66 to the public as cooling stations during the week, by keeping their air-conditioned conference rooms dimly lit and unlocked for as many as 12 hours each day.

August

Sound Harley-Davidson of Smokey Point served as the starting point for the Marysville Police Department’s seventh annual charity ride for Special Olympics Aug. 1, in which more than 100 motorcycle riders traveled a roughly 100-mile loop before finishing their run at Comeford Park in Marysville. “That’s way over our usual number,” said Patricia Duemmell, an evidence technician with the Marysville Police Department who’s coordinated fundraising events for Special Olympics for the past six years. “We’ve averaged about 60 riders in the past. The day’s great weather doesn’t hurt, I’m sure. I’m so excited to do events like this. I love supporting the athletes and meeting new riders. Some of the riders we have here have come out for the past six or seven years.”

“It’s exceeded my expectations,” said Turning Point Community Church Pastor Mike Villamor, one of the organizers of this year’s “Summer Jubilee,” Aug. 8.

The Summer Jubilee was started more than a decade ago to provide school supplies for children in the community who otherwise would have been unprepared for their first days of school. Villamor noted that the event began with “hand-outs to 50 kids in our basement,” by last year it had managed to draw an estimated 12,000 attendees and dispense school supply sets to 5,000 students, as well as providing close to 900 free haircuts.

The annual Marysville Homegrown Festival and Street Fair, which took place Aug. 14-15, would seem to be a relatively recession-proof event, going by the estimates of Mary Burns. “It’s about the same turnout as last year,” said Burns, owner of BookWorks on Third Street, and one of the “Old Town” Marysville merchants involved in staging the events each year. “We’re really happy with the weather, which is just right, and we’ve got about 80 vendor booths long Third Street. Homegrown is just a unique event, with an awful lot of one-of-a-kind things available for sale.”

Firefighters from the Marysville Fire District Local 3219 were working the intersection of State Avenue and Grove Street Aug. 21, asking motorists to “Fill the Boot” for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Marysville firefighters have been supporting the MDA with “Fill the Boot” fundraisers for close to a decade, according to Marysville firefighter and Local 3219 member Mark Cook, one of the coordinators of the event this year. Midway through their collection drive Aug. 12, Cook estimated that nearly $4,900 have been donated to the MDA by Marysville motorists. The Marysville firefighters generated approximately $18,000 for the MDA last year and Cook explained that hoped to beat the number this year.

September

It was a new event tied into old traditions, and aside from a brief bit of rain, the first-ever “Tulalip Days Sept. 5-7 enjoyed pleasant weather and sizable crowds, according to event organizers. Tulalip Tribes Public Affairs Coordinator Mytyl Hernandez also served as the event coordinator for the Tulalip Days and she recalled how the event had its roots in long-standing tribal customs. “Maybe longer than 10 years ago we stopped having our Labor Day pow wow,” Hernandez said at the Tulalip Tribal Center Sept. 5. “My grandfather remembers events always going on down here Labor Day weekend, so we were just trying to get back to that. We moved the parade to Labor Day weekend and decided to add a few other activities to make it more of a festival.

The Tulalip Tribes “raised their hands” in charity to more than 125 organizations throughout the state of Washington Sept. 19, as the Tulalip Resort Casino’s Orca Ballroom hosted more than 300 guests for the Tribes’ “Rasing Hands” evening dinner program. State Rep. John McCoy, who also serves as manager of Quil Ceda village, joined Tulalip Tribes Chair Mel Sheldon Jr. in explaining that the Tribes have donated $33.5 million to more than 225 charitable organizations since 1993. McCoy noted that, while 60 percent of their charitable donations are drawn from gaming, the remaining 40 percent comes from Tribal resources. “We have about the same amount of money to give out each quarter, between $200,000-$300,000, but we receive $3 million in requests,” McCoy said. McCoy recalled returning to the Tulalip Reservation in 1994 when it had only 230 employees. Today, the Tribes have more than 3,500 direct and indirect employees.

The Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County’s fourth annual Hope Within luncheon drew 680 attendees Sept. 30, twice the number of people who attended last year. Denise Brown, the sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, was the keynote speaker.

October

The Tulalip Tribes invited members of the Marysville and Tulalip communities to the Oct. 3 grand opening of the Tribes’ new administration building. Tulalip Tribes Chair Mel Sheldon Jr. deemed the 75,000-square-foot administration building a huge expression of how members of the Tulalip Tribes have come together to invest in their community and carry on the work of their elders He also acknowledged the vision and sacrifice of past and present Tribal Boards of Directors for making this building possible.

The Smokey Point Plant Farm is attracting families from throughout Snohomish County, and even Canada, through the Marysville Rotary’s annual “Pumpkins For Literacy” program this month. Rotary “Pumpkin Czar” Kelly Richards reported that business was booming this year’s first weekend. “We brought about 35,000 pounds of pumpkins just to start with,” Richards said Oct. 12. “Of course, we don’t sell pumpkins by the pound, but we’ve sold about a third of those already, just this weekend. In fact, I’m about to order more pumpkins right now.”

City staff and residents in Marysville are quick to credit the work of the community as a whole with combating graffiti. One of the community members who’s been fighting graffiti on the front lines is 20-year-old Andrew King, a third-year seasonal maintenance worker with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Parks and Rec maintenance worker Justin Palitz praised King for tackling “not a glamorous job,” given the labor and foul-smelling chemicals required to remove graffiti tags. King’s enthusiasm impressed city parks maintenance staff so much that they nominated him for an award never before earned by a seasonal employee.

Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, a Marysville resident, was shot to death shortly after 10 p.m., Oct. 31, while he and Officer Britt Sweeney were parked in their patrol car in the 100 Block of 29th Avenue. The officers had just completed a traffic stop when a white or light-blue Toyota sedan, also heading southbound, pulled up next to their patrol car, and a suspect fired multiple shots into the patrol car, with what investigators have since tentatively concluded was a rifle. Bullets struck Brenton in the head, killing him, and grazed the back of Sweeney’s neck, inflicting minor injuries on her. Sweeney returned fire, possibly striking the vehicle, and summoned additional officers to the scene as the vehicle fled northbound on 29th Avenue. Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel called the shooting an “assassination,” while Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels called it “a cold-blooded killing.” Brenton was 39-years-old and a nine-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department at the time of his death. He leaves behind a wife and two children. Sweeney, 33, is a recent graduate of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center, and was praised by Pugel for demonstrating the quick thinking and behavior of a veteran officer. Pugel expressed concern for Sweeney’s safety, saying, “It is clear the suspect was trying to get both of them.”

November

The Marysville Cemetery drew more than its usual number of visitors for the week of Veterans Day, according to cemetery administrator Scott Locke. Locke said that members of a Lake Stevens history class visited Nov. 9 to place fresh flowers on the graves of veterans, while members of Marysville Boy Scouts of America Troop 82 paid their respects early in the morning of Nov. 11. More than a dozen Marysville Cub Scouts from Pack 80 followed that morning, accompanied by parents and older siblings, to plant flags on the veterans’ graves. “It’s really nice of them to do that,” said Locke, who served in the Navy for 23 years. “The veterans really appreciate it. We love when people come to visit us, because do don’t feel like such a forgotten place.”

The Marysville Golden Corral served even more veterans than usual during its annual “Military Appreciation Day,” Nov. 16, as co-owner Mike Kossak reported that 462 current and former service members took advantage of their free diner buffet. “It’s a fun night where we try to seat strangers together on purpose,” Kossak said. “In most cases, they don’t mind at all.”

December

Don Hatch Jr. marked the end of a historic career at the Marysville School District Dec. 7, but he and everyone who spoke on his behalf at the MSD Service Center that evening expressed confidence that he would remain an active voice and volunteer on behalf of the schools and the children of the Marysville and tulalip communities. Hatch, 70, has served on the MSD board of directors for 16 of the past 20 years, longer than any other Tulalip member in the 122-year history of the school district, and the MSD Board Room was filled with friends, colleagues and other well-wishers during the Dec,. 7 meeting which was Hatch’s last as a Board member.

More than 60 families received support from regional law enforcement, military members, businesses and other organizations during the Fraternal Order of Police’s annual Shop with a Cop program in Snohomish County. The Arlington Haggen Food and Pharmacy served as the staging grounds for the even Dec. 12, as members of FOP Puget Sound Lodge 15 and military police from Naval Station Everett were paired off with local kids in need, giving the youngsters tours of their duty vehicles before driving them out to nearby stores that took part in sponsoring the event, such as the Quil Ceda and Everett Walmart stores, for holiday shopping sprees of $100 per child.

The Marysville Community Food Bank reported a slightly larger turnout than usual during its first day of holiday food basket distributions Dec. 18. According to Marysville Community Food Bank Director Joyce Zeigen, the food bank had already served 60 families within 45 minutes of opening at 9 a.m. “We’ve been distributing alphabetically by last name, but next year, I think we’ll switch up the order a bit so that those of us at the end of the alphabet don’t get discouraged,” Zeigen Laughed. “We’re giving out more food than we were last year so that people aren’t having to visit us as frequently.”