Jefferson Awards: Winner of 1983 award still trying to bridge conflicts

Honored for contributions to education, philanthropy and civic life in 1983, she could have coasted after her kids were grown, enjoying her garden with the December-blooming rose and her well-deserved retirement.

But neither coasting nor retiring is Bullitt's style. At age 80, the former grade-school teacher still gets up for 7 a.m. aerobics classes before putting in full days -- and often evenings -- of meetings, engagements, brain-storming sessions, fund-raisers and other events targeting her passions.

The full plate that earned a Jefferson Award is now heaping. One of Seattle's most continually engaged citizens, Bullitt still reads three newspapers a day and fields a stream of e-mails and phone calls on interests ranging from historic preservation to preparing school-age kids to become global citizens.

Bullitt says she is still humbled by being chosen for a Jefferson Award and included in the company of "such a variety of interesting people doing important things, and all nominated by the public."

"It was a great honor," Bullitt says. "I was quite undone."

The Seattle P-I is again seeking nominations for the Jefferson Awards. Today is the nomination deadline.

If Bullitt had not already won an award, she would be a prime candidate for nomination. The "Wage Peace" sign in her driveway signals her interest in bridging conflict. She still remembers joining international efforts to help traumatized children in postwar Germany.

Her Capitol Hill home of 50 years contains artifacts from world travels, many with her husband and civic leader, Stimson Bullitt. It has been host to local gatherings, from Democratic fund-raisers to summer youth camps bridging understanding between divided groups -- blacks and whites in the 1960s, and now, Jewish and Arab students.

She is still helping. Bullitt supports green building and other environmental causes through the family's private non-profit Bullitt Foundation.

Her Jefferson Award stemmed in part from her involvement as a board member or chairwoman of 10 organizations, ranging from the program "Private Initiatives in Education," which brought business leaders into classrooms, to the arts.

"If you get on one path, you have to keep following it," Bullitt says. "The trouble is, I have too many paths. But as I look back over my life, I've been consistent in my interests -- education, civil rights, historic preservation, the environment, international understanding and peace and the arts. They are important social issues to me -- and there's still a lot to do."

NOMINATIONS DUE

Today is the deadline for the Jefferson Awards, which honor civic contributions. The awards have been sponsored for 29 years by the American Institute for Public Service. The Seattle P-I and The Boeing Co. sponsor the state awards. You can nominate any Washington resident. On March 24, judges for the Jefferson Awards will announce five winners at a Seattle luncheon. Each winner will receive a medallion, and one recipient will head to a national ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June as the state's representative. Nomination information can be found at www.seattlepi.com/Jefferson. Completed applications include the nomination form, a cover letter and supporting documents.

P-I reporter Debera Carlton Harrell can be reached at 206-448-8326 or deberaharrell@seattlepi.com.

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