As a fifth generation Umatilla County resident, Cindy Middleton grew up in a family where serving the community is a way of life â a concept she and her husband have sought to pass along to their own children.
Middleton was one of several people recognized during the Hermiston Chamber of Commerceâs annual Distinguished Citizens Awards banquet, along with Ken Huber as Man of the Year. She followed in the steps of her mother, Judy Bracher, who accepted the same Woman of the Year award in 1992. She remembers her father calling while she was away at college to tell her about it.
HERMISTON â As Cindy Middleton accepted Hermistonâs Woman of the Year award on Wednesday, Feb. 24, she thought back to the day in 1992 that her father called her while she was away at college to tell her that her own mother, Judy Bracher, was Woman of the Year.
âI was deeply touched by the way that Dad described what Mom was being recognized for,â she remembered.
Middleton was one of several people recognized during the Hermiston Chamber of Commerceâs annual Distinguished Citizens Awards banquet, along with Ken Huber as Man of the Year. The event, which usually hosts several hundred people in the Hermiston Community Center, was limited to award winners and their families this year and was held in a greenhouse at Bennett Botanical Gardens.