Kennewick’s man, woman of year honored for decades of community service

By Senior Times staff

Two longtime Kennewick volunteers were recognized and praised for their work to make their city a better place to live.

Candice Bluechel, who “inspires everyone she works with,” was named Kennewick Woman of the Year, and Wayne Bell, who “leads by example and is the first to get his hands dirty,” was named Kennewick Man of the Year for 2022.

Bluechel was nominated by Laurie Church.

Bell was nominated by Bob Kelly, 2015 Kennewick Man of the Year, and Gerry Berges, who received the honor in 1997. Bell’s wife, Maureen Bell, was named Kennewick Woman of the Year in 2015.

The awards, which date back to 1946, were presented by the Kennewick Past Man of the Year Club and the Kennewick Past Women of the Year Club. The banquet to honor the winners was held at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick on March 20.

Woman of the Year

Bluechel, who moved to Kennewick in 1999, has a long list of volunteer work on her resume.

She served for 12 years on the Kennewick Planning Commission.

She was a board member for the Kennewick Arts Commission and

Children’s Development Center. She served as president of Soroptimist International of Three Rivers and was cochair for TriCities Soroptimists Against Human Trafficking.

She was a member of Leadership Tri-Cities Class 8 and worked as business services manager at WorkSource Columbia Basin. She also is a past Rotarian.

“Candice is passionately committed to making Kennewick a better place to live and work. She works hard every day to achieve this goal. She inspires everyone she works with and is recognized as a true leader, a woman who strives to help whenever called upon and an accomplished professional,” according to her nomination letter.

She continues to take a leadership role in developing plans for human trafficking community conversations, coordinating with multiple agencies and speakers, and was a key partici-