By Jessica Keller

The Courier-Herald

For Leih Mulvihill, the city of Black Diamond holds a special place in her heart - it's always felt like home, and she can't believe there's any better place to live.

Because of that love for her town, and what she has done to make it better for everyone who lives there, Mulvihill was named the 2004 Citizen of the Year, announced at the Black Diamond Labor Day celebration. She was nominated by both her daughter Alicia and an anonymous person.

Mulvihill actually grew up in the Spokane area, moving to western Washington in the late 1970s. She hadn't even heard of Black Diamond until she was out on a drive one day with her boyfriend, who later became her husband. Seeing the name Black Diamond on a state Route 18 sign, she asked him where it was.

"Ever since I saw that sign, I knew I'd live there," she said.

That move, however, didn't come until 1995, when - frustrated with something - she packed her kids in the car and took a drive. Traveling through the town, she saw a "for sale" sign on a house, and fell in love with both the house and the town. She went home and told her husband about the house and the town, and soon they moved.

"And as soon as I did, I knew this was home," she said. "This is where I belong. This is where I'm meant to cause my trouble."

While trouble is a debatable description, Mulvihill certainly is busy working in and with the town.

In addition to being the owner of Leih's Gifts in downtown Black Diamond, she wears a number of other hats. She's been the chairman of the Black Diamond Labor Days committee for three or four years, she said, adding the years blend together. She's also the director of the Maple Valley/Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce, helped form the Merchants' Partnership between business owners and Black Diamond city officials and was recently appointed to the Planning Commission.

"Those are the four things that get me into trouble," she said with a loud laugh.

Mulvihill describes her role in the community as a type of enthusiasm builder and organizer.

"I'm a cheerleader," she said. "I didn't make the squad in high school, but as an adult I'm out there rah, rah, rah."

Mulvihill doesn't see anything as a problem, but as opportunities, and she sees lots of potential in Black Diamond.

She tries to get people to work together for the betterment of the town, and thinks of herself as a consensus builder.

"I help polish the diamond in the rough," Mulvihill said with a laugh.

In the anonymous letter sent, Mulvihill was praised for her involvement in the town as a business owner, chairman of Black Diamond Labor Days and Chamber of Commerce director. The writer was also sure Mulvihill will have a positive impact as a planning commissioner.

In her nomination letter Mulvihill's daughter Alicia described how much her mother loves the community, something, Mulvihill said probably drives her children crazy at times.

Mulvihill said when she would drive down the road with her kids when they were younger, she used to say "guess what," and then tell them how much she liked Black Diamond.

"It got so when I said 'guess what,' they'd say 'we know mom, you love this town,'" she added with a laugh.

According to Alicia Mulvihill, she has never seen her mother so happy as when the family moved to Black Diamond.

" 'Oh it's such a quaint, little town. It's like home. Can't wait to meet the neighbors,' she said to me, and every day since then she has become involved in the community any way she can," Alicia Mulvihill wrote in the letter.

One of the first indications Mulvihill was going to love Black Diamond was during her first week living in the town. Mulvihill was walking her kids to school, and Councilman Andy Williamson welcomed her to the community.

"There's just something satisfying living in a small community where you know the people and they know you," she said, adding larger cities, such as Tacoma and Seattle have no sense of community and no sense of ownership of the town by the citizens.

"And I just see so many good things for the town," Mulvihill said, adding she thinks it could be a destination point, not just a place to drive through.

Part of her vision for the town is to have one place where people can meet, such as a community building housing the police department, post office, city hall and more. Right now, she said, the city does not have that "cohesive core."

Because she is chairman of the Labor Day Committee, when she learned she had been nominated, she stepped back from the process.

When it came the time to read the name of Citizen of the Year, because she was nominated, Mulvihill stepped back and handed the envelope to a friend, who had been chosen to announce the name.

Mulvihill said although she didn't learn the six other nominees names, or read their nominations, she knows from looking at the initial Labor Day applications, the people she saw listed as candidates for Citizen of the Year were all worthy of the award in their own right.

"So, I really didn't expect to get it, and of course I cried," she said.

"And really it's not me, it's the people around me who deserve the credit," Mulvihill added, stating she gives the people she works with a focus and direction to get the ball rolling, but they get are the ones who pick it up and get things done in town.

"It's not about me, it's about Black Diamond and how we can make it better," she said.

Jessica Keller can be reached at jkeller@courierherald.com.