During the annual Kenmore Founder’s Day celebration on Wednesday, the Kenmore Heritage Society presented Bastyr University President Dr. Daniel Church with the McMaster Heritage Award.

“[It’s] very humbling. I confess I never thought of myself as having done anything for Kenmore that was worthy of notice, I was just doing my job and showing up,” Church said. “One of the things I tell people who ask me ‘what its like to be the President?’ is ‘its a life, not a job’ and if there’s anything going on in town, I try to be there.”

Church, 70, is being honored for his outstanding dedication and service to the Kenmore community during his decade of service at Bastyr.

“When we learned that Dr. Church will retire soon our board of directors was unanimous in wanting to honor and thank him for his leadership and service to the community,” said Kenmore Heritage Society President Annette Eaton.

As the head of Bastyr University, Church has made it his goal to further incorporate Bastyr as an indispensable part of the Kenmore community.

Church said that the university tries to be as connected to Kenmore as possible.

“We’ve tried to invest in the community in terms of supporting community interests and events in such a way that everybody wins,” Church said. “Whether it’s cosponsoring the heritage walk-in at Log Boom park, or helping to support the fireworks display, it’s been good for us and good for the town.”

Among many of the things Church has done for the community as the leader of Bastyr University is the inclusion of ball fields that are open to the public and the little league games in the area, hosting the Kenmore Art Show on Bastyr’s campus and creating summer events, such as the Bastyr Herb and Food Fair.

The annual observance honors the founding of Kenmore. John McMaster, a wealthy immigrant from Kenmore, Ontario (which was named after Kenmore, Scotland), established the name for the area in 1901.

This year’s celebration was held at the Kenmore Community Club.

The McMaster Heritage Award has been given to 13 people, honored for their commitment to serving the community during a prolonged period of time and who have made significant positive differences in Kenmore.

Previous McMaster award winners were Ralph Swanson, LeRoy Anenson, Richard Ramsey, Tom Traeger, Roland Lindstrom, JoAnn Evans, Priscilla Droge, David Maehren, Richard Taylor, L.G. “Bud” Eaton, Staci Adman, Harrold Thompson and Kent Sturgis.