How many of us truly love where we live? A lucky few, I’m sure.

My mother sue Kienast is undoubtedly one of those few. In fact, she loves Bothell so much that she has dedicated 40 years of her life preserving and documenting the history of her hometown. [Last year], after four decades of volunteer service, my mom stepped down as the president of the Bothell Historical Museum. Ever since I can remember, my mom has been a driving force behind discovering, chronicling, and most of all, preserving Bothell’s rich history for future generations. The energy and time she spent volunteering was more than some people spend in a full-time job and she loved it.

She relished spending an afternoon with children at the schoolhouse adjacent to the museum, showing them what it was like to be a student over 100 years ago. She also loved piecing together fragments of our town’s history through photos, letters, or best of all, via personal stories from townspeople to form an accurate and vivid account of how Bothell has transformed into the town it is today.

I am so very proud and appreciative of the work my mom and all the volunteers at the museum have done and I hope she knows how many lives she touched through her commitment and dedication.

Growing up in Bothell, the museum was my second home, and although I now live thousands of miles away, I cherish my time spent there and I hope that every resident of Bothell will spend some time discovering the museum and all it has to offer.

Erika Kienast Lipkin, former Bothell resident