Sawyer, Johnson, others to be honored for distinguished service

Kaye Sawyer, founder of the Yamhill County Gospel Mission, and Jon Johnson, longtime local banker, will be honored as Woman and Man of the Year in May at the annual Distinguished Service Awards banquet.

Also being recognized are Junior Citizen Brian Wicks, owner of Cascade Landscaping; Educator of the Year Brian Bixler, who teaches technology to elementary students in the McMinnville School District; and Farmers of the Year Kim Hamblin and Dan Reinke of Roshambo Farm, Willamina.

The DSA banquet will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, in The Grand McMinnville, the ballroom upstairs at 325 N.E. Third St. Tickets are $50 for the ceremony and dinner catered by Harvest Fresh.

For tickets, go to www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-distinguished-service-awards-tickets-1986855081032.

Johnson retired last year from Citizens Bank, where he was vice president and McMinnville branch manager. He continues serving on the Cascade Capital Funding Board, a nonprofit organization that works with small business loans.

He said he enjoyed his career in banking and the relationships he’s built in McMinnville over the years.

A native of North Dakota, he earned a degree in banking and finance from the University of North Dakota in 1980. He worked for the FDIC as a bank examiner based in Portland and traveling throughout the West.

After marrying, he accepted a job as chief financial officer with the Bank of Newport, then moved to American National Bank in Washington.

He and his wife, Vicki, and their daughter moved to McMinnville when he joined Valley Community Bank and remained here after switching to the Bank of Salem. He joined First Federal in 2008, and in 2015 moved to Citizens Bank as a loan officer before becoming manager.

Johnson volunteered for the McMinnville Food & Wine Classic for 29 years, helping raise funds for St. James Catholic School. He was on the board for Catholic Community Services for a decade.

He belonged to the Rotary Club, working with both the Sunrise and Noon clubs; previously, he was a member of the Lions.

He continues community service work in McMinnville through Rotary and by volunteering with A Family Place relief nursery, where he has served on the board.

The Woman of the Year, Sawyer, was a 911 dispatcher who often talked with, or heard about, people who had no shelter on cold, rainy nights and those whose problems stemmed from alcohol and other drugs.

A lifelong Christian, she sympathized. Then she rediscovered a deeper faith. “I found the Lord,” she said.

That led her to reach out to people who were houseless, struggling with substance abuse or otherwise suffering. At first, she delivered food to those living under bridges and in the woods with like-minded friends such as Terry Woods, Ross Warner and the late Kevin Edwards. Later, they added a feeding program in Wortman Park.

In 2006, she and her friends co-founded the Yamhill County Gospel Rescue Mission at 14th and Logan streets. She has been its unpaid director and president ever since.

Under her leadership, the Mission has grown to comprise several buildings, with separate spaces for 30-day residents who are women with children and for men, along with overnight shelter space. YCGRM also owns property across 14th Street from the mission site, where Sawyer hopes to build a new structure that will provide longer-term, faith-based support as people gain skills for work and life in general.

She writes grants and raises funds with events and other methods. She also spends several evenings a week at the mission, helping directly.