Previous Recipients of the Medal of Merit

Year Recipients
1987
  • Warren G. Magnuson – Seattle (Senator)
  • Dorothy Bullit – Seattle (KING TV Founder and Philanthropist)
  • Orville A. Vogel – Pullman (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
  • Lester R. Sauvage M.D. – Seattle (Medical Pioneer)
1988
  • Edward Carlson – Seattle (Chair, Century 21, United Airlines)
  • Dr. William Hutchinson – Seattle (Medical Research)
  • Henry M. Jackson – Everett (Senator)
1989
  • Julia Butler Hanson – Cathlamet (Congresswoman)
  • Belding H. Scriber M.D. – Seattle (UW Medical School)
  • Charles Odegaard – Seattle (UW President)
1990
  • James E. Reed – Seattle (Law)
  • Francis Penrose Owens – Seattle (WSU Regent)
1995
  • Dr. Kathleen Ross - Prosser (Founder, Heritage College)
  • Michael Copass M.D. – Seattle (Harborview Medical School)
1998
  • Dr E. Donnall Thomas – Seattle (Transplant Pioneer – Nobel Laureate)
  • Grady Auvil – Orondo (Apple Orchardist and Pioneer)
  • Stanley O. McNaughton – Seattle (Business Leader)
  • Jacob Lawrence – Seattle (Painter)
2003
  • Thomas Foley – Spokane (former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives)
  • Leland H. Hartwell Ph.D. - Seattle (Nobel Prize-winning researcher)
  • Helmut "Brownie" Braunsteiner – Tacoma (veterans' advocate)
  • Ernest K. Gann – San Juan Island (former filmmaker and author)
2007
  • Dan Evans – Seattle (Former Governor and U.S. Senator)
  • Dale Chihuly – Seattle (Renowned Artist, Teacher and Patron)
  • Dr. Linda Buck, Ph.D. – Seattle (Nobel Laureate researcher)
  • Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D. – Sunnyside (Shuttle Astronaut)
2009
  • Bill Gates Sr.- Seattle (Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
  • Wilfred Woods - Wenatchee (Publisher, The Wenatchee World)
  • Emma Smith DeVoe - Tacoma (Suffragette)
  • May Arkwright Hutton - Spokane (Suffragette)
2015
  • Gretchen Shodde - Union (Activist / Founder of Harmony Hill Cancer Retreat Center)
  • Billy Frank, Jr. - South Puget Sound (Native American environmental leader and treaty rights activist)