ARLINGTON — “The friendship I have made through Kiwanis are enduring and right up there with my family and those from church,” George Boulton told the Arlington Kiwanis Club, as they celebrated his 80th birthday a couple of weeks early, along with his nearly 50 years in Kiwanis.

During their meeting April 20, Laura Kuhl presented a slide show of Boulton’s 48 years in Kiwanis, where he’s serving his second term as lieutenant governor.

Boulton’s commitment to education was cited through the dictionaries and scholarships he’s presented to Arlington, Lakewood and Darrington students. The succession of photos showed his active hand in decorating pine cones and assembling Christmas swags, conducting cookie drives for senior centers, starting many of the town’s Fourth of July festivities, staying up all night for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, and even serving up popcorn and s’mores for the city’s summer outdoor movies and winter hometown holidays.

Kuhl credited Boulton’s contributions to his community with “inspiring us to be better people,” and asserted that most of the patches on the Arlington Kiwanis Club’s banners owed to his involvement.

City attorney Steve Peiffle touted Boulton as both “a pillar” and “a driving force” of the club, who also lived up to the Kiwanis mottos of building and serving children.

Steve Peterson, secretary for the Cascade Valley Hospital board, recalled braving waist-deep snow drifts with Boulton to gather evergreen boughs for their swags.

“You’ve put in a lifetime of service, and I’m proud to have served it with you,” Peterson said.

Jim Chase noted that Boulton and his wife, Annalee, will have been married 56 years in August, and added that they started their business, Flowers By George, in Arlington in 1968.

Boulton has maintained perfect attendance for more than 40 years in the Kiwanis Club.

“You’re like the Energizer Bunny,” Kuhl said. “You never stop working.”