2025 Fred yee citizens award Honorees

Tim Louie

Tim Louie was an only child and felt privileged to live in the house with his paternal grandparents. He learned to speak Chinese first because his grandparents and mother did not speak English. He was raised by his grand-parents when his parents worked at the Tsue Chong noodle company.

Tim attended a Seattle elementary school, jun-ior high, and graduated from Franklin High School. He started his college career in 1979 at a small college in Spokane, WA, called Whitworth College. After attending for two years, he transferred back to the University of Washington.

Entering college and unsure of what he wanted to do, he pursued an Engineering degree. He took all the necessary courses in that direction, but, midway through, he decided that pursuing the family business in the noodle and fortune cookie business was a great idea. So, he changed his major to Business Administration with a minor in food technology.

While growing up, he enjoyed the outdoor activities of camping. His family went camping a few times but due to work obligations, they could not go as much as Tim wanted to. In 1971, he joined the Boy Scout troop 254 and that allowed him to learn many of his outdoor skills and go camping. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout at the age of 18 in 1979.

In 1981, the troop was at risk of shutting down due to lack of adult leadership. With his good friend Glen Wong who turned 21 while Tim was only 20 they decided to take over leadership to keep it going.

After Glen stepped down as the roller Scoutmaster, he encouraged Tim to continue as Scoutmaster which he did until present day. Tim still enjoys outdoor activities and mentoring young boys into manhood.

Under Tim’s leadership, his Boy Scout troop has helped the CID com-munity in many ways. Years ago, they volunteered for the Kin On bene-fit dinner hosted by South China restaurant. They volunteered at the Danny Woo Gardens, participated in the Memorial Day ceremony at Hing Hay Park, packed rice for the CISC rice drive, helped distribute food during the holidays at ACRS Food Bank. And they also did the Colorguard to start the Seafair Chinatown/ID parade among other things.

Mary Knell

Mary Knell is CEO and head of Wells Far-go Pacific Northwest and Western Canada Commercial Banking. Based in Seattle, she leads the Wells Fargo offices and business throughout Washington, Oregon, Northern Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii and the four provinc-es of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatche-wan and Manitoba. With over 40 years of financial services experience, Mary’s career has focused on providing strategic solutions and commercial banking services to family owned, middle-market and large corporate global companies.

Mary earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration (finance) from the University of Washington and graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School. A lifetime Seattle resident, Mary is an active community volunteer and leader and currently serves on the Execu-tive Committee of the Washington CEO Roundtable, Executive Board of International Women’s Forum (IWF) Washington Chapter, Execu-tive Advisory Board for Greater Seattle Partners, University of Wash-ington Foster Business School Advisory Board, Museum of Flight Board of Trustees, Pacific Coast Banking School Board and the Global Council for Asian Hall of Fame. Mary is the recipient of the 2021 UW Foster Business School Leadership Award, 2020 Seattle Business Mag-azine Executive Excellence Award, recognized in 2020 and 2019 in PSBJ's Inaugural List of 100 and recipient of the 2019 JDRF Living and Giving Award. She is a recipient of the 2014 Diversity at the Top Award by NW Asian Weekly and 2013 Women of Influence by Puget Sound Business Journal.

Mary is an active mentor, sponsor and passionate on elevating inclusion, diversity, veteran’s, Asians and women’s leadership develop-ment. She founded and chairs the Wells Fargo Washington Women’s Roundtable established to connect women business executives, busi-ness owners, and community leaders to learn, collaborate and act around topics such as education, opportunity, health, business, com-munity and succeeding financially.

“When Knell isn’t working or traveling, Knell hopes to increase her com-munity involvement. Her priority is to give back to communities in need and to help make this a better place.” 2014, NW Asian Weekly

Mary has since given back to the Chinese American community in many ways.

Kin On Health Care Center and Assisted Living Facilities

Kin On has always remained true to its Asian roots. In 1985, Kin On launched the nation’s first bilingual Chinese-American nursing home catering to the unique cultural and dietary needs of Asian elders. Over the years Kin On continued to expand, offering home care, caregiver support services, assisted living apartments and Healthy Living classes. Today, Kin On is on a path of continual growth, expanding both the range and types of services throughout the Puget Sound region. All of this is made possible through the generosity of our com-munity. Learn more at kinon.org. Thank you, Ketty Hsieh, CEO