LOGAN — In 1989, after decades of exclusion, Rotary International began admitting women into its ranks.
How far we have come. Thirteen years later Sara Sinclair has been named Logan Rotarian of the Year for 2002, the first woman in northern Utah to receive that honor.
"Sara's credentials stand on their own," said chapter president Fred Berthrong. "It just so happens that she's a woman."
Sinclair has made a habit of being first. Her rsum is 20 pages long, stuffed with lauds and honors and accolades. First woman president of the Cache County Chamber of Commerce. First woman Logan Rotary Club president. Member of the state Board of Regents. Chairwoman or member of a number of advisory boards, societies, committees and task forces.
"Sara earns every award she gets," said Bobbie Coray, current Cache Chamber president and a pioneering northern Utah woman herself. "She is not one of those figurehead people. She works very hard."
Interestingly, Sinclair has a relatively low-profile job: CEO of a nonprofit Logan nursing home called Sunshine Terrace. But that job is the base of everything else. Everything she is professionally relates in one way or another to what she says is her one true calling: caring for the elderly.
"There is no job here (at Sunshine Terrace) where you have to go home and say, 'What I did here had no value,' " Sinclair said. "This is hard work. You have to have the patience of Job. But I love it. It's not drudgery. It's a heck of a challenge."
Sinclair was born 60 years ago to an airline pilot and spent her formative years moving around the country. She became a nurse, and her interests led her to the care of the elderly. Living with her husband in Logan from 1967 to 1974, and then from 1979 on, she got a job at Sunshine Terrace, moving up to become director of nursing, then assistant administrator, then administrator and finally overall director.
She did such a good job that, after she left for a few years to work as director of the state Division of Health Systems Improvement, the Sunshine Terrace board pleaded with her to come back. She did.
"When I made the announcement, they (the board members) almost clapped," said Merrill Daines, acting board chairman at the time. "They were extremely enthused."
Walking through the modest, 35-year-old main building of Sunshine Terrace, Sinclair picks up tiny pieces of litter, straightens things, gives advice.
"I'm a nit picker," she said.
Aides greet her by name, and she them. Conversations ensue. Several minor problems are addressed and handled.
A client, as residents are referred to, calls for help from one of the rooms. Not seeing an aide immediately available, Sinclair simply goes in herself.
"I don't want this food," the client says.
The woman has dementia. She begins regaling Sinclair with a wildly fanciful tale of imagined conspiracy. She is cantankerous and difficult. But Sinclair listens easily and offers soothing words.
"We have men who hit on our young, beautiful aides," she said after finally leaving the room. "We have people who hit and pinch and swear." But she is empathetic. In addition to age-related mental disorders, "there is not one person who wants to live here (in a nursing home). Not one. And I am very aware of that."
A tiny minority of Utah's nursing homes are nonprofit. Being nonprofit means always scraping for money and constantly asking the community to help out. Building Sunshine Terrace's sparkling new assisted living center and adult day center took considerable persuasion and community outreach.
But being nonprofit also means that you can transcend money. You can become a magnet of community spirit and pride. Sinclair proudly points out, for example, that Sunshine Terrace had 53,000 volunteer hours last year.
"We have people who come and visit (clients) who don't have relatives. They always get visited," she said. "It's staggering, the amount of love people have."
Given that love, Sinclair feels an obligation to give back. Thus her enormous involvement in community, civic, volunteer, state and even federal groups. And thus her never-ending list of citations and posts and awards.
Sinclair has a small statue of an eagle in her office. At the base is engraved a motto that exemplifies her professional life:
"The only limits are those of vision."
E-MAIL: aedwards@desnews.com