ROYAL CITY – Sharon Chesterman’s mother repeatedly reminded her that she was coming to Royal City for only five years.

Fifty-two years after arriving, she is still here and, a week or so ago, was chosen grand marshal for the annual Royal City SummerFest, the weekend of July 8-10. She nearly cried when Mrs. SummerFest, herself, Leslie Fanning, told her of the selection.

“She brought me flowers,” Sharon said.

Sharon was happy and excited but surprised at the “honor of being chosen.” She shouldn’t have been. She has answered the call every time she’s been needed for community duty. Yearly she is involved in SummerFest.

No one is more thankful for Sharon’s sense of community than the Sun Tribune. When it was started in 2010, knowing of her community-mindedness, the Sun Tribune asked Sharon if she would provide a community calendar. She’s been doing that voluntarily ever since.

“She really is one of this community’s most generous people,” Sun Tribune publisher Eric LaFontaine said.

The first two people Sharon called after being informed of her selection were her two children.

“Quite an honor,” her son said.

“Oh, my goodness,” her daughter added. “You totally deserve it.”

Her husband Daryl, too, is proud of Sharon’s selection. So much so that he nearly declined riding in the parade with her. She wouldn’t hear of it.

“He’s been here longer than I have,” she said.

After graduating from Medical Lake High School and Eastern Washington College of Education (now EWU), Sharon came to the dusty farming town of Royal City in 1964. She found employment at a newly-built high school as an English teacher mostly. She finished her career as an elementary librarian.

Sharon came to town as Sharon Click, and there are adults in the community who still say, “Hello, Mrs. Click.” But Sharon’s then-husband Dennis died in 1978.

Later she met and got to know Daryl Chesterman, son of a Royal Slope farmer. They attended the same church. They married in 1982, and Royal City became her home for life.

Sharon came to Royal so long ago that she struggles to remember the details. Searching through a yearbook, she said: “We must have had a junior-senior high school then.”

According to the yearbook, there were 16 teachers who taught high school and junior high school. She taught seventh- and eighth-grade English as well as high school English.

“Back in those days, we did everything,” she said.

On Saturday, July 9, at about 10 a.m., all of the memories should start coming back. Sharon will lead off the Royal City SummerFest Parade to “hi” and “hello” from many people who were her students.