Marshall Award goes to Bledsoe

Marshall Award winner Cheryl Bledsoe.

A 34-year-old emergency management specialist who volunteers with the American Red Cross and other groups has been selected to received the 2008 Gen. George C. Marshall Leadership Award.

Cheryl Bledsoe, emergency management manager for Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency, is the award’s 20th recipient.

The annual honor is presented to a Clark County resident, 35 or younger, who has earned a four-year college degree and has demonstrated leadership and public service.

The award will be presented to Bledsoe during a ceremony that begins at 4 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Marshall House, 1301 Officers Row.

The award honors the memory of Marshall, who was commander of Vancouver Barracks for 18 months in the late 1930s and lived in the house on Officers Row that today bears his name.

Marshall went on to serve as U.S. Army chief of staff during World War II and was the primary architect of the plan that rebuilt a war-ravaged Western Europe in the years following the Allies’ victory.

“George C. Marshall’s life garnered such incredible respect here in Vancouver and around the world for his integrity among his soldiers, ability to frankly advise key leaders and vision for Europe’s recovery after World War II,” Bledsoe said in a statement. “I am so incredibly humbled to have been selected as a recipient of this award.”

Bledsoe, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from Pacific Lutheran University and a master’s degree in public affairs from Washington State University.

She is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Clark County. Her volunteer activities include Citizen Emergency Response Teams, the Trauma Intervention Program and the American Red Cross.

She also received an Adjutant General’s Medal of Recognition for coordination of a regional terrorism preparedness exercise.

Previous award recipients are Cindy Gibbon (1989), John McIlvain (1990), Steve Dearborn (1991), Doug Sessions (1992), Paula Martin (1993), Darin Atteberry (1994), Shawna Burkholder (1995), Thomas Hagley Jr. (1996), Charlene Ryan (1997), Theresa Weil (1998), Michael Stromme (1999), Juliet Laycoe (2000), Scott Patterson (2001), Tanisha Harris (2002), Dena Horton, (2003) Jennifer Kampsula (2004), Gregory McGreevey (2005), VaNessa Duplessie (2006) and Deena Bisig (2007).