ARLINGTON — When George Boulton moved his family to town to buy a floral shop more than 40 years ago, he came to stay. His philosophy was that if you live and run a business in a community, you have a responsibility to help that community, he said.
Boulton’s many years of volunteer work in Arlington are to be recognized Wednesday when he receives the Stillaguamish Senior Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous honorees include Howard Christianson, Don Meier, Harry and Ruth Yost and Dick Post.
Speakers for the event include former county executive Bob Drewel and community leader Dale Duskin. Proceeds from the award breakfast help fund activities at the senior center.
Boulton, 73, is an outstanding community leader, center director Jo Olson said.
Though he transferred ownership of his floral shop, Flowers by George, to his son about 15 years ago, Boulton continues to help out there and use the shop as a contact base for his ongoing volunteer work.
Throughout the years, Boulton has served in the Kiwanis Club, the Chamber of Commerce, his church and Arlington schools.
Boulton earned a degree in floriculture at Colorado State University and took a job at a large floral company in Seattle. He and his wife, Annalee, moved with their two young sons to Arlington in 1968.
A former president of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Boulton was instrumental, along with the late Mayor John Larson, in convincing telephone company GTE, now Verizon, that a phone connection between Arlington and Everett shouldn’t be charged as a long distance call.
His concern about the economic health of downtown Arlington led him to work on the Main Street revitalization program, the Arlington Business Community Development committee and the Arlington Frontier Days Association.
A former two-term president of the Kiwanis Club, he was involved in landscaping the grounds at Cascade Valley Hospital. He continues to be active in the Dollars for Scholars community scholarship program for Arlington High School graduates and has served on the committee that oversees Byrnes Performing Arts Center.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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