The Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award is designed to honor a UW retiree or team of UW retirees for excellence in service post-retirement that exemplifies the University’s values with special distinction.
For many years, people wanting to enjoy Mount Baker Park—a popular 21.7-acre setting on a ravine across from Lake Washington—would have to navigate a treacherous, steep, often-muddy, hazardous gravel trail at the end of 34th Avenue South. The result? A lot of falls, twisted ankles and broken limbs. Then Jill McKinstry, '69, '73, '87, stepped in. “Jill saw this deficit and decided to do something about it,” recalls Susan Kocik, a Mount Baker resident and co-chair (with McKinstry) of the Mount Baker Safe Access Committee.
With the blessing of the Mount Baker Community Club, McKinstry applied for and won a Seattle block grant for a study of the area. With the help of a volunteer committee of neighbors she recruited, McKinstry raised funds, supervised construction, scheduled volunteers, led negotiations with the Parks Department and on and on, says lifelong friend Lynn Hogan. Her leadership in negotiations with several city agencies ultimately secured funding to complete the project. The result? “The project is a complete success,” Kocik wrote. McKinstry even personally paid to have the new handrail painted.
McKinstry, former director of Odegaard Undergraduate Library who received the UW’s David Thorud Leadership Award in 2009, routinely applies her leadership and ability to motivate others to make life better. She and her husband joined Jimmy Carter on Habitat for Humanity builds in Kentucky, South Africa, Mexico and Hungary.
And she has been a force in the Washington state organization Grandmothers Against Gun Violence. She joined in 2018, became treasurer, and is now board chair of the group and its 1,000-plus members. “As the principal founder of Grandmothers, I have always kept an eye out for special people with clear leadership skills, a collaborative style and who model generosity,” writes Margaret Helding. “We found an ace in Jill.”