Quincy Valley Post-Register

• Home
• News
• Sports
• Obituaries
• Opinion
• Blog
• Photos
• Our Neighbor
• Schools
• Classifieds
• Churches
• Businesses

Harrington helps to power the port

From staff reports
April 29, 2010

Sherry Harrington has been the Port of Quincy's office manager since 1988.

The Quincy Valley has undergone a lot of changes over the past few years. Sherry Harrington has been in a unique perspective to witness a lot of those developments first-hand.

Harrington has been the Port of Quincy’s administrative manager since 1988. Since then she’s witnessed the district grow its responsibilities and reach to include the ownership of a public golf course and the recruitment of several national tech companies to Quincy, among other things.

“When I first started, I was the only employee of the port, so I did what needed to be done,” she said. “When I started, I worked four hours a day, we met once a month and some of the meetings were maybe 20 minutes. But gradually my duties have been increased since the business increased.

“It’s been very interesting. If I didn’t work here, I wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the things that are going on. As it is, I’ve learned a lot of different things over the years. When I first moved to Quincy (in 1981), I didn’t know there was a port district in Quincy, and I didn’t know what a port district did.”

A key to the port district’s growth, Harrington said, was a law change several years back that allowed it to incorporate tourism into its mission statement. That change was a big reason why the port district was able to buy what is now Colockum Ridge Golf Course three years ago.

“The port district’s role has changed over the years,” Harrington said. “Once that law changed, a lot of doors were opened. A year before we bought the golf course, a purchase like that would’ve been in a real gray area.”

Harrington has worked extensively with current port commissioners Curt Morris, Brian Kuest and Pat Connelly, who have all served the district since the 1990s. Harrington said the commissioners work well together because of their divergent backgrounds.

“They all bring different strengths,” she said. “They have three different ways of looking at things, so they tend to balance each other out. That has really helped us to move forward.

“They’re not afraid to take risks. When the data centers came, we had the facilities in place, the land in place, and the services were close to where they needed to be. It was like a perfect storm. The guys have been proactive in doing things and willing to get things done. It’s been exciting.”

Harrington grew up in the Upper Okanogan Valley and graduated from Oroville High School. From there she attended Wenatchee Valley College, where she met her husband, Jim. They moved to Quincy when Jim’s father, Art, decided to go into the restaurant business and recruited his son to work with him. (Jim is now an outside salesman for Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc.) They’ve been here ever since, first raising their two sons, Russ and Kevin, and now enjoying their four grandchildren, who all live in the area.

“This time of the year is hectic because three of them are playing either baseball or T-ball, and I’ve got to try to make it to the games,” she said.

Quincy suits Harrington just fine, thanks to her small-town background.

“I like the atmosphere here,” she said. “I grew up with that, and I wanted my kids to grow up with that background as well. It’s been a good place as far as job opportunities go.”

Harrington has been involved with the Boy Scouts program ever since her sons went through the program. She said one of her favorite annual activities is trekking to Camp Bonaparte with a group of five to 10 other people to upgrade and repair the scout camp in preparation for the summer season.

She’s always been interested in technology as well, an attribute that surely suits her duties with the port.

“I got my first computer in 1983. It was an Apple 2E that had a floppy disk drive. I still look at that computer fondly,” she said. “I’ve always been on the edge (of the latest technological advances). I’ve never been afraid to try something new. I think a lot of people my age aren’t interested in it or they’re scared or they think it’s not for them, but I haven’t had a problem using computers and working with them.”