Six honorees inducted into Spokane Citizen Hall of Fame

Six people were inducted Thursday into the Spokane Citizen Hall of Fame, an event sponsored by the Spokane Public Library Foundation and the city of Spokane.

The hall of fame honors people in six categories who have “made significant contributions to the development and quality of life in our community.”

The breakfast also was a fundraising event for the library foundation.

Those honored Thursday were:

• Harold Balazs, artist, in the Arts and Letters category;

• Gordon Budke, former managing partner and CPA at Coopers & Lybrand, Economic Development and Business;

• Gary Livingston, former Spokane Public Schools superintendent and Community Colleges of Spokane chancellor, Education;

• Don Kardong, founder of Bloomsday, Innovation and Leadership;

• Dr. Elizabeth Welty, retired physician and longtime philanthropist, Public Service and Philanthropy;

• Peg Hopkins, founder and recently retired CEO of Community Health Association of Spokane, Science, Health and Medicine.

Six more people were previously named as “historic inductees.” Friends, family members or people who are involved with keeping those people’s legacies alive attended the breakfast to receive their honors. The inductees are King Cole, president of Expo ’74; former U.S. Speaker of the House Tom Foley; Indian leader Chief Spokan Garry; early philanthropist and suffragette May Arkwright Hutton; former Spokane Mayor Vicki McNeill; and Daniel K. Oliver, a Spokane City Council member in 1896 who was the highest-ranking black official in the state at that time.