The Rainier Hunting Retriever Club (RHRC) held its 2025 Awards Banquet on February 1st at Shawn O’Donnell’s Irish Pub in Everett, WA. In addition to Awards, the 2025 RHRC club officers were elected: Bill Woll, President; Liz Gibson, Vice President; Misalyn Armstrong, Secretary and Lee Redd, Treasurer.
Outgoing President, Betsy Reali, provided highlights of the club’s 2024 activities.
- RHRC assisted at the 2024 Master Amateur Invitational in June
- Held training days for members
- Hosted 2 AKC Sanctioned Hunt Tests.
- Donated $500 to the Pasadena Humane Society to support care and housing of dogs displaced by the fires in California.
- Awarded Honorary Membership to Colin Ching, Gary Abbott and Bryan/Elsa Hawley for their “behind the scenes” support of RHRC activities with no public fanfare.
Two special RHRC Awards are given annually: “Member of the Year” and “President’s Award”. These Awards recognize members who have gone “over and above” the usual volunteer service during the past year. Chris Braswell was voted by the club membership as “Member of the Year” and Bill Woll received the “President’s Award of Merit” for his many contributions and leadership throughout the year.
The moment everyone awaited was the announcement of owner/dog awards. These awards included recognizing dogs who have earned AKC titles as well as those who “qualified for” and/or “qualified at” various National Events such as the Master National and Master Amateur Invitational. Rainier Club members work very hard all year long – training and testing their canine companions. This year, eight members and eleven dogs were recognized. Dogs and owners received achievement bars and plaques to mark their achievements.
The final award of the evening went to Betsy Reali, outgoing President, for her tireless service to the Rainier Hunting Retriever Club. Betsy served Rainier and its membership for four consecutive terms and helped the club keep a steady course as it recovered from the stress of Covid, scarcity of game for our tests and volunteer burn-out.
