Group prepares to fete 2017 WOW honorees

By DAVID GUNTER

Feature correspondent

SANDPOINT — If there is a common trait among smart, powerful, wise women, it might be that they feel absolutely no compulsion to go about telling folks just how smart, powerful and wise they are.

They’re simply too busy being all of the above to spend time blowing their own horns.

That hasn’t stopped one organization from drawing attention to these amazing individuals. Since 1999, a group called Women Honoring Wisdom has been recognizing an annual slate of honorees as Women of Wisdom. A simple scan of past honorees shows that, to be honored in such a way, puts one in some very heady company.

The committee behind these designations is made up of roughly 25 women who gather monthly to discuss nominations and — this is the hard part — decide on a short list of honorees.

This year’s gala luncheon for the Women of Wisdom will take place on May 13 — a month earlier than past events due to the packed calendar of activities in June, organizers said.

For those who have achieved WOW status, the announcement comes as a complete surprise, according to committee chair Kari Saccomanno, who said the calls are made by speakerphone with the entire selection committee listening in.

“They either scream or there’s complete silence on the other end of the line,” she said.

The selection process is based on written nomination letters submitted by people other than the candidates themselves. Although work history plays a part in the process, it is overshadowed by contributions such as community involvement, service, leadership and what the individual has done to act as a role model.

“It’s more about how they’ve extended what they did with their career to take their passion outside of that and into the community,” Saccomanno said.

“Some of the nominations make you cry,” said Marlene Rorke, chair for the group’s scholarship committee. “You read them and think, ‘This should have been a novel.’”

But for Women Honoring Wisdom, those stories might well go untold in the honoree’s lifetime.

“So many times, the only time you realize how much a person has done is when you read their obituary,” said Sharon Rench McCormick, a WOW recipient in 2007.

Recalling her own designation a decade ago, she still appears somewhat taken aback by the honor.

“When you get asked to be one, it’s humbling,” she said.

Women of Wisdom got its start when former Sandpoint Mayor Marsha Ogilvie formed the organization 18 years ago. In many ways, Ogilvie, who passed away in 2014 after a battle with cancer, came to typify what a Woman of Wisdom should be. Before serving as mayor, she sat on the Sandpoint City Council and was president of Kinderhaven for 13 years.

Beyond that, she quietly but firmly encouraged those around her to jump into volunteerism on various fronts.

“Marsha started a lot of things,” Rench McCormick said. “And she followed through on all of them to make sure they happened.”

“She was very convincing,” said Marilyn Chambers, a Women of Wisdom honoree in 2002. Ogilvie had something that she believes is shared by the other honorees in the program.

“Integrity,” Chambers said. “And a pride for the community.”

After her death in January of 2014, Ogilvie was honored posthumously with the organization’s Founder’s Award.

As in past years, the 2017 Women of Wisdom luncheon will be anchored by the presentations, which include a brief ‘This Is Your Life’ style slide show accompanied by music selected by the individual honorees.

“All of that in just four minutes each,” Saccomanno said, “which is incredibly hard.”

Also difficult is the winnowing away process for candidates, all of whom have been nominated by friends, family or other WOWs. The scoring rubric, the committee chair pointed out, covers activities that run from volunteerism to work in schools, the arts, 4-H and myriad other areas.

Looked at another way, the honorees are scored using more personal attributes — things such as grace, courage, dignity and honor.

In 2016, there were more than 20 nominations, from which, just five women were selected. The same kind of volume can be expected for this year’s event, organizers said. That adds up to a huge amount of work for selection committee members, who each read more than 100 letters of recommendation last year and will likely face a similar stack going into the 2017 event.

According to Rorke, most nominees have several such recommendations, but quantity doesn’t usually tip the balance.

“Just because there might be multiple letters for a person doesn’t give it any more credence,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s a single letter that does it.”

Women of Wisdom is about honoring those who have served the community well, but the program places equal value on showing the way for young women who might go on to do the same. Through its scholarship program, the organization provides funds for higher education to young women of high school age who meet the same criteria as the Women of Wisdom recipients. The committee that awards the scholarships includes current and former WOW honorees.

“I think they’ve been so captivated by the process of being nominated that they want to get on board and be part of that process,” Rorke said.

“The first scholarships were given in 2002,” Saccomanno said. “Since then, we’ve awarded about 40 of them. It gives you encouragement for the future.”

The deadline for Women of Wisdom nominations is March 3. Candidates must be 65 or older and voting takes place about a week after the deadline. Rorke looks forward to the final selection and the speakerphone calls that follow.

“That’s the celebration,” she said. “These are honorable women and this is their time to be honored.”

Nominations, postmarked on or before March 3, can be mailed to: Women of Wisdom, 1481 Wrenco Loop Road, Sandpoint, ID, 83864, or sent by email to: womenhonoringwomen@gmail.com

For nomination guidelines and more information about the organization, including lists of past recipients, visit on Facebook by searching for Bonner County Women of Wisdom.

Information: womenhonoringwomen@gmail.com