After a lifetime of determination, a Port Townsend woman with a lifetime of nonprofit work was named this year’s Woman of Excellence.
Patricia Teal was presented the annual award by the …
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After a lifetime of determination, a Port Townsend woman with a lifetime of nonprofit work was named this year’s Woman of Excellence.
Patricia Teal was presented the annual award by the local branch of the American Association of University Women at a ceremony Saturday,
Dec. 10.
The award is given to women who reside or work in Jefferson County for a minimum of three years, and is based on criteria that includes how the nominee acts as a role model, change agent, teacher/mentor, and community activist.
Teal’s achievements came after hard-fought refusal to give up in the face of life’s difficulties.
“I was indignant when my father told me college wasn’t for girls,” Teal said in an interview with The Leader on Saturday, when she received the award.
Her family was so against their daughter going to college that after she managed to earn the money on her own by babysitting for 50 cents an hour, her parents took those funds and she had to start over after leaving home.
“I don’t know excellent, but I know that I’m persistent,” Teal said.
Teal moved to Port Townsend in 1986 to work as the director of the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program now known as Dove House. At the same time, she was also a foster parent for abused children.
She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1995 and while she was no longer able to work full-time, she became a founding member of Disability Awareness Starts Here (DASH).
Teal has also served on the board for the Jefferson County Housing Authority since 2005, continuing with the organization as it merged with the Peninsula Housing Authority.
And despite her disability, she helped build her own house through the group’s Self Help Program. The program required 32 hours a week of work for 18 months, and Teal managed to put in 20 to 25 hours a week of her own and recruit friends and family to help fill in the gaps.
In addition to DASH, she has served as a member of the local Accessibility Community Advocacy Committee and the Non Motorized Transportation Advisory Board, advocating the need for accessible streets and local infrastructure.
While accepting the award and delivering a speech filled with humility and hope for what’s possible, Teal ended with a turn of vulnerability naming that courage isn’t a lack of fear but resolve in the face of it.
“We’re all afraid, but we keep going,” she said.
