Presidents of Rotary 1990-1999
C. Keith Riffe
President Yakima Rotary Club 1990-1991
C. Keith Riffe was born in Leeds, North Dakota and raised in Longview, Washington where he graduated from R. A. Long High School in 1957. He then enrolled in the University of Washington where he earned a B.S. in Accounting in 1962, and a J.D. degree from the College of Law in 1965. Keith worked in a couple of accounting firms before becoming a managing partner of Moss Adams L.L.P. in 1975, a position he held until 2002.
In 2009, he was recruited by Pacific Northwest University of Health Science to be its Chief Business Officer. He continued in that position until retiring again in 2016. He describes his retirement activities as “traveling, reading, hiking, golfing, skiing, and other unproductive activities.”
In addition to serving as president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1990-1991, he served as board president of a number of community organizations, including the Capitol Theatre, March of Dimes, New Vision, Y.M.C.A. and the Yakima Ski Club. He also was chair of the Yakima Rotary Trust. Other organizations where he served on the board were the Salvation Army, Yakima County Club, Yakima Water Council and Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.
Keith has been a member of the Yakima Bible Study Fellowship for twelve years and most proud of his role as leader of the organization.
Keith and his wife Trudy are the parents of 3 sons David, Brondon, and Casey, and the grandparents of four grandsons.
David Miller
President Yakima Rotary Club 1991-1992
David “Dave” Miller was president of the Yakima Rotary Club, 23 years after his father, Cliff Miller was club president. Both of them attend the Convention of Rotary International before their year as president and ironically, both were held in Mexico, City.
Dave received BA and MBA degrees is Business Administration from Puget Sound University. While there he participated in rowing as a member of PSU Crew. He and his wife Carol raised three children in Yakima and after retirement helped with nine grandchildren.
He joined his dad, at the Cliff Miller Camera Store, hence his classification of “Photo Equipment Retailing,” and eventually converting it to an Apple Computer Store. Dave worked in the same building for 47 years.
In addition to his involvement in Rotary, one of his most treasured areas of service has been Bible Study Fellowship where he was privileged to lead for sixteen years. Dave was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1991-1992.
George Cahoon
President Yakima Rotary Club 1992-1993
George Cahoon was born in 1934 in Yakima. He was educated in the Yakima school system and graduated from Yakima High School where he was ASB President in 1953. George attended the University of Washington and was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He also attended Central Washington University and served two years in the United States Army.
After receiving his BA in Economics, he joined his two brothers in the grocery business in Yakima. Over the years George became an owner and or operator of several businesses in the Yakima area.
He retired in 1991 and in 1998 he and his wife Paula moved to Vero Beach, Florida to enjoy the sun and sand. They remained there for twenty years and in 2018 returned to the Northwest settling in Spokane. They now reside in Rockwood Retirement Center in Spokane. George was president of the Yakima Rotary club in 1992-1993.
Ken Marble
President Yakima Rotary Club 1993-1994
Ken Marble is the president and owner of Horizon Distribution, Inc. located in Yakima, Washington. Horizon Distribution is a 139-year-old regional distributor of hardware, farm, garden, and industrial supplies, selling in nine western states.
Marble has been with Horizon for 42 years. He has served 33 years as President. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a law degree from Willamette University. Marble practiced law for four years in Kirkland before joining Horizon.
He and his wife Marlyn have three children and seven grandchildren.
Ken is very active in the community of Yakima. He has served Yakima Rotary as President in 1993-1994. Note that his father, Richard Marble was club president in 1977-1978. He also served as Chair of the 1992 Rotary District Conference and he served as an Assistant District Governor in 1994-1995.
He served as the chair of the Yakima YMCA, New Vision, the March of Dimes and Safe Yakima. Most recently he led the fundraising efforts for the new Yakima Family YMCA at Chesterly Park in celebration of the Centennial of the Yakima Rotary Club.
He is an avid fly fisherman, saltwater boater, angler, and skier.
Dennis Richardson
President Yakima Rotary Club 1994-1995
Dennis Tyrrell Richardson was born November 30, 1941, the oldest of 4 children, just a week before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and thrust the world into a global war. WWII, lasting more than four and a half more years, was a time of great uncertainty across the globe.
Dennis started the 1st grade at St. Joseph grade school in Yakima when he was just 5 years old. He attended Marquette high school and went on to Gonzaga University where he earned a Business degree.
In 1958 his father bought a small seasonal trucking company called Easley Hauling Service made up of fifteen dump trucks that hauled peas and corn for Libbey, McNeil and Libbey.
Dennis met Kathryn Cullen at Gonzaga University. Two years later, determined to set the wedding date, he travelled to Florence, Italy, where she was attending the pioneer year of Gonzaga-in-Florence. They were married July 1965 and became the parents for three sons and one daughter.
The young family then moved to Selah, Washington, where Dennis began in earnest running and soon thereafter buying the small Easley company. Returning home from college all 3 sons worked with their father at the trucking company which had grown tremendously.
When Dennis sold it, in 2005, the company that started with 15 seasonal dump trucks had developed into a business with over 600 semitrucks running throughout the Pacific Northwest and West coast of the USA with over 600 employees and offices in Olympia, Ellensburg, and Yakima, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.
Dennis served on many Boards including Yakima Valley bank, the YMCA, Carroll High School, and the Yakima Rotary club. He was president in 1994-1995. Dennis was awarded the prestigious “Outstanding Alumni Award” at Gonzaga University. He served on the Board of Regents at Gonzaga University for 16 years.
Among his other pursuits were snow skiing, racquetball and: fishing in Petersburg, Alaska, each and every June!
Ron Cleveland
President Yakima Rotary Club 1995-1996
I grew up in the Seattle area and attended the University of Washington for a couple of quarters in Forestry. Then I volunteered for Special Forces and was stationed in Panama for a year and a half. When I left the military, I was married and had a child. We moved to Ellensburg where I got my degree in business administration at Central Washington University.
After graduation I went to work in Seattle in public accounting. Eventually we came back to the east side of the mountains to work at Chinook Mobilodge. After 2 ½ years as assistant controller I had the opportunity to work for Michelsen Packaging as controller and eventually as a part owner. Fortunately, one of the other owners was Earl Pratt who was a member of the downtown club and he introduced me to Rotary. I served as president of the club in 1995-1996.
It wasn’t until then that I became active in the community. I sat on a couple of local non-profit boards in Yakima and became President of the CWU (Central Washington University) Alumni Association. My favorite program in Rotary was Group Study Exchange where a group of business people would go to another country to observe how they do business. I was quite active in working with the incoming teams when they visited our district. Unfortunately, the program has been discontinued. I am currently active in the Brighton Rotary Club in Michigan, and sit on the Scholarship Committee.
Donald G. “Don” Moen
President Yakima Rotary Club 1996-1997
Donald G. (Don) Moen was born in Yakima, Washington on October 19 1931 died on March 24, 2017 in Yakima, WA at age 85. He graduated from Yakima High School in 1950, and then from Washington State College in 1954 with a degree in Business (Construction Management). After college, he served in the Army for two years and was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany as a member of the Counter Intelligence Corps. Though he met his future wife, Kathryn (Kathy), in Yakima, the two were married in Germany and spent their first years of marriage there in a small poorly heated flat.
After discharge from the service, he joined his father at GH Moen Construction Company. When his father retired, he took over ownership of the company, and propelled it to new levels of success. He was the general contractor for many important buildings in Yakima and around the state of Washington, including the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the State Supreme Court building in Olympia, the Washington State University hospital, and over twenty-five buildings on the Central Washington University campus including the award-winning psychology building.
Yakima buildings of note include the SunDome, Children’s Village, eleven buildings on the Yakima Valley Community College campus, and important renovations of the William O. Douglas Federal Building, Capitol Theatre, Davis High School and Yakima Valley Museum. He had a unique ability to build loyalty with both his employees and his clients, and repeat business was common.
Don was also actively engaged in the community, serving many years in Rotary, including a stint as Governor of District 5060 in 2003-2004. He served as an advisory board member and/or officer of the Red Cross, United Way, YMCA, Boy Scouts of America, St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, and Yakima School Foundation. Other business associations included the Association of General Contractors, Yakima Construction Federation, Yakima Chamber of Commerce, Carpenters Apprenticeship, and the Yakima Skill Center. He also served on the construction management advisory board for both WSU and CWU.
He was an avid and talented photographer, a lifelong learner, he loved to read, and enjoyed playing bridge. He was a lifelong member of Central Lutheran Church. Don and Kathy had four children, Michael, Stephan, Sandi Culver, and Daniel.
Jim Smith
President Yakima Rotary Club 1997-1998
Jim Smith was born in Naches, Washington August 4,1934 and raised in Heppner, Oregon where his father was a lumberman. He attended Stanford University, where he majored in economics and was in the US Navy flight program. He later became a private pilot flying a variety of airplanes until he was 80 years old. Jim loved to fly!
He is married to Marcia Daniel, also a Stanford grad, who lived in St. Helena, California, and was the daughter of the owner Inglenook Vineyard and Wine Company. She majored in writing and later in life became a world leader in hybridizing iris flowers with many distinctions in her field.
Jim started his business career in the electric sign business, owning Heath Sign Co. in Seattle, and later moved to Yakima where Heath became the largest sign firm in the Northwest.
He said, “I spent many wonderful summers boating from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska and all the waters in between. I also enjoyed river running in drift boats, fly fishing streams and lakes for trout, golf and hiking the mountain trails.”
Jim and Marcia have a son and a daughter and 6 grandchildren with whom they spent many “wonderful times together,” including 4 trips to Africa. Jim Says, “I have always said if I only had 30 days to live, I would want it to be in a tent on the Serengeti plain in Tanzania.”
Jim was president of Yakima Rotary President in 1989, and during his year, the club built two Habitat for Humanity homes
Bob Sinclair
President Yakima Rotary Club 1998-1999
Robert Finley “Bob” Sinclair was born to Bob and Bernice (Finley) Sinclair, at St Elizabeth Hospital on July 2, 1939. He lived in Toppenish and Yakima until 1944 when the family was transferred to Portland by Pacific Power. He went through grade school and high school in Portland and was in the 1961 graduating class at the University of Oregon.
He then went to work for Crown Zellerbach in sales and marketing and held various positions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
In 1971 he returned to Yakima as a part owner of General Supply Co, a paper and janitorial supply company with George Shuford. With George’s retirement in 1982, Bob became sole owner. In 1999 Bob sold General Supply to AmSan and continued working for them until 2002. He served on national boards and committees in his industry for several years.
His community service includes: Yakima Rotary from 1972 to the present, United Way, Chair of the Community Block Grant Committee, Cascadian President 1980-81, White Pass Board 1991-2016, First Presbyterian Church and EPIC Board 1999-2006.
His hobbies include skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, mountain climbing and traveling. Bob was married to Leigh Higgins and has a son Robert living in Aspen, CO., who has twins Charlie and Belle and a daughter Emily, living in Kirkland WA., with a daughter Clair.
Always active in Scouting he earned his Eagle in 1953, and has held many leadership positions including President of the Fort Simcoe Council Yakima 1984-86, now Grand Columbia Council, Area President 1994-96. He now serves on the Western Region Board, Philmont Ranch and International Committee Boards. Awards have included the Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout.
Bob is a descendent of Robert C. and Lucille (Fisher) Sinclair, who moved from Kendrick ID to Yakima in 1909 to join Yakima Hardware (now Horizon Distribution. His maternal grandparents, Guy C. and Nancy (Conner) Finley, moved to Yakima after both graduated from Ohio State University in 1910. Guy went to work for the US Bureau of Reclamation as a civil engineer. Guy was in the first group taken into Yakima Rotary in 1920, after the club was organized in 1919 and was President in 1937.
In 2003 Bob met life partner Darci Swanson, a U of W Husky, and spends time in Seattle, Yakima and in his permanent home in Ketchum ID.
Murray Judge
President Yakima Rotary 1999-2000
My parents built a home near the Yakima Country Club in the late 1940’s. I was able to live in that home until leaving for college after graduating from East Valley HS in 1963.
My high school years were filled with anticipation and promise. I found the transition from adolescence to adulthood frustrating at times, perhaps complicated by a lack of maturity. I was athletic by interest and nature so enjoyed all High School sports. It is probably accurate to portray my HS athletic career as above mediocre as I was able to attain 12 letters. However, it is equally accurate to describe my abilities later, when playing tennis or golf, as pretty darn mediocre.
I attended WSU following high school graduation and was affiliated with Beta Theta Pi fraternity. A few years later I transferred and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Washington. Later still I received an advanced degree from Central Washington University. Friendships forged throughout all those school years were invaluable, cherished, and never forgotten.
After several attempts working for others, it became apparent that I was more comfortable working for myself. My job security was intact even after showing up late several days in a row. Consequently, I evolved into a real estate investor owning several Yakima rental properties including single-family homes, duplexes and apartment buildings. Wife Karen had worked her way through the hierarchy to become Vice President of Administration at Yakima Valley College. Her career success allowed us to continue growing our real estate inventory to the extent it began to interfere with my favorite leisure activities.
Community service was a great way for me to not only break from daily work responsibilities but to serve a community that had been so supportive of our family over the years. Consequently, I enjoyed serving on the Swan housing board for several years managing the construction of Swan Housing North, affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church. I loved the mission of the local Yakima Family YMCA serving in various board positions including President in 1998 through year 2000. I was honored to be asked to serve as President of the Yakima Downtown Rotary Club a year later and followed as a board member at Terrace Height Memorial Park for many years.