Katherine Murwin of Menominee receives the 2019 State Woman of Distinction Award from Shaila Jehle, state chairwoman of the Delta Kappa Gamma Michigan State Chapter of the Personal Growth and Services Committee.

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Beta Sigma Chapter of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society has recognized member Katherine Murwin of Menominee as the 2019 recipient of the State Woman of Distinction Award.

DKG is an honorary international organization of woman educators that promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. The Beta Sigma Chapter includes members from the Dickinson, Delta and Menominee counties in Michigan, plus neighboring Marinette, Oconto and Florence counties in Wisconsin.

There are 52 DKG chapters in the entire state of Michigan. Each chapter has the opportunity each year to nominate an exemplary member from their group that they see as a possible recipient of the State of Michigan Woman of Distinction Award, from DKG’s State of Michigan Alpha-lota Chapter. Beta Sigma Chapter nominated Murwin for 2019.

The DKG Michigan State Chapter of the Personal Growth and Services Committee selects by secret ballot from Chapter DKG nominees for the award from those submitted from across the entire upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.

On May 4, DKG’s Alpha-lota State of Michigan Chapter presented Katherine Jane Konyn Murwin as the recipient of this award. She was honored and presented with her award at the State DKG Convention at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Shaila Jehle, chairwomen of the State Personal Growth and Services Committee, spoke on Murwin’s involvement and accomplishments for DKG- Beta Sigma, including her leadership roles, her committee involvements, her commitments to the by-laws, her planning of the three Chapter meetings at Bay College in 2016, her being recognized as their Chapter Woman of Distinction in 1998 and her receiving honorable mention in 2011 for the Michigan-Alpha-lota State Woman of Distinction Award. She also spoke on her involvements with Rotary Club, where she was the first woman president for that group in its 90 years of existence; the Menominee County Historical Society; PEO; American Cancer Society; her church; and others.

She recognized her 30-plus year career in education, which began as a fifth-grade teacher in Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1968 until her retirement in 1998 from the Menominee County Intermediate School District, where she had been a special education teacher consultant for 20 years.

She recognized that she and her late husband, Don, had taken in 13 exchange students from around the world who remain as “close family” to her.

Jehle summed it up with a quote from Iron Mountain Beta Sigma member Dorothy Occhietti’s letter of recommendation: “Katherine Murwin is not only a leader, organizer, challenger, historian, but a compassionate human being who dedicates her life to uplifting, not only her students and family, but all who have had the privilege of her acquaintance.”

Murwin is now the second person from Beta Sigma Chapter to be chosen and the fourth person from the Upper Peninsula in the 45-year history of this award.

Beta Sigma members know how deserving Murwin is of this honorary award.

Iron Mountain’s Dorothy Occhietti, founder and current member of Beta Sigma Chapter, was the first recipient of the State of Michigan Woman of Distinction Award when it was presented to her 45 years ago in 1974, also at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.