What is the history of the Grays Harbor Community Foundation?
We were established in 1994 by Frank H. Larner, a retired Aberdeen CPA who still serves as our president, and Gladys Phillips, the late Aberdeen attorney and civic leader who at one time helped lead the Bishop Foundation. Frank and Gladys knew the potential of our community well and saw a need to establish a community foundation that could give long-term benefit to Grays Harbor. We have grown slowly but steadily since 1994, with the greatest advance coming from the bequest of Kathryn Sherk, who in 2000 left us approximately $4 million for “capital improvement projects of the Aberdeen Public Library.” The Sherk Fund remains the largest of our sixteen funds.
