•  Hackett Honor: Pat Hackett continues to wrack up weightlifting honors on a global scale. Her latest achievement is a Gold in the recent 2011 World Masters Weightlifting Championships in Cyprus.
“What a great trip and wonderful experience,” Pat said. “I met lots of new lifters and the American team of 20 came in fourth overall in the medal count. In all, there were 450 lifters representing  69 countries. I lifted a new personal best  total of 90 kilos, so it was a good showing…”
•  Elgin Epilogue: Not to be lost amid all the attention to Ron Elgin’s “retirement” and the concurrent closure of the DDB office here is this comment at the end of his email announcing the moves.
“ I’ve decided that full retirement is never going to be for me, so after a little time off, I’m going to see what I can contribute as a consultant,” said Ron, still a Spring chicken at 70…

Printing Prominence: Washington state boasts not one but two printing- firm principals who have ascended to prominent positions with major national associations.

Loken

Darren Loken, president/CEO of Telepress in Seattle, was installed as chairman of the board of the National Association of Printing Leadership during the association’s annual meeting Sept. 11 in Chicago. Loken is an SPU graduate.

He founded and sold a mailing company and joined the former Valco Graphics, moving up to to president and CEO. Upon its sale to Cenveo he became GM in Seattle and later moved to Telepress.

Laura Lawton-Forsyth, president of Lawton Printing in Spokane, was elected chairman of the board of the Printing Industries of America during the association’s Fall meeting in Miami Beach.

Lawton-Forsyth

Laura, a past president of PPI, heads a board that directs the activities of the world’s largest print-trade group, with 8,500 members representing 900,000 employees and $140 billion in sales.

•  Amazing Annabelle :  Leslie Cohan shared some touching remembrances of her “really special dog” named Annabelle (left photo), who died in October. “I was lucky enough to bring her to work with me at some of Seattle’s most creative agencies, like DDB, Dave Syferd & Partners and my new home, EXCLAIM.

“Although she couldn’t contribute to billable hours, I’m convinced that our campaigns were better and more creative because of her just being there. She had a way of making us laugh, with just a look… she connected with people,” Leslie said.

“After I posted the sad news on Facebook, I immediately received messages from former colleagues and clients who shared their stories of Annabelle at the office. I had no idea her passing would affect so many people. As word spread, I received condolence cards and emails from friends and colleagues who had heard the news. Who would have thought that a 16-pound white fluffy Westie would make such a difference in the lives of so many people?

“She died two days after her 10th birthday and  I, along with so many others, will miss her sweet way about the office.”

Her successor is a two-month-old  named Aggie (right photo), also a Westie. She has some tough paw prints to follow in…