The story of how the Hometown Heroes series was born reads like a fairy tale.

Except the characters are not folkloric but real.

Late one spring night, a community-minded island woman awakens from a deep sleep with an idea.

She thinks, “Why don’t I tell the stories of the countless everyday heroes who live on Whidbey Island?”

The idea was clear to her: Tell the stories in such a way so as to inspire the wider community to follow the path of the good-hearted.

It was 1995, and Susan Knickerbocker took her dream to the editor of the local newspaper, The South Whidbey Record. There she received a resounding, “Yes.”

Three months later, in June of 1995, the first Hometown Hero article, featuring Jean Gaziner, appeared on Page 7.

About 120 articles and 10 years later, a volunteer committee was formed to design and manage the process of publishing a collection of 51 of Knickerbocker’s profiles — the first book in a series — from which profits could be funneled to later volumes and to local youth organizations.

Here it is, 2008, and “Hometown Heroes, A Celebration of Community Spirit on South Whidbey Island, Volume 1” has been published by that dedicated committee which, to Knickerbocker, is heroic in its own right.

A “Hometown Heroes Happening” will celebrate the auspicious occasion from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24 at Bayview Hall.

Such a celebration is well-deserved by those who worked so tirelessly to produce Volume 1 and by the community who fueled it.

Countless volunteer hours during the course of three years were devoted to the making of the book by committee members Natalie Hahn, Sue Haworth, Sherryl Christie-Bierschenk, Leslie Kelly, Sherry Mays, Candace Allen, Linda Good, Betty Eakin and Jim Shelver, who worked with the irreplaceable guidance and blessing of Knickerbocker.

With an introduction by local writer Mary Knight and designed beautifully with sepia-toned photographs and easy-to-read type by Hahn, this first volume is a joyful manifestation of Knickerbocker’s initial purpose. The book succeeds in its presentation of the author’s goal to inspire the community by showing just how inspiring the people who live on the south end of Whidbey Island can be.

Although she never had the idea that she would be the author — as she still doesn’t consider herself a writer — Knickerbocker has managed to create a formula for herself and the subjects of the stories in order to maintain the series.

Each article takes her about 60 to 100 hours to compile and write every month, which she said would be impossible without each hero’s willingness to answer her questions. She also attributes the love and support of her husband and daughters as a large part of her success.

“I look at these articles as a type of victory garden,” Knickerbocker said.

“They are owned by all, not by any one person,” she said.

Each hero is nominated by someone in the community. She receives about three nominations per week, and has compiled a list of about

300 people who have been nominated that she has yet to write about.

Heroes are asked about their personal lives, such as where they are from, how long they’ve lived on the island and their family members.

They are then interviewed by Knickerbocker in a day-in-the-life kind of conversation.

Knickerbocker also includes the person’s opinions on such things as people they admire, a motto they live by, what their definition of class is and who inspired them when they were young.

Also included in each profile is what the friends, family and fellow community members of the hero have to say about them.

Christie-Bierschenk is convinced that the series could not have come to fruition without Knickerbocker’s passion for the community for which she herself volunteers readily.

“With all of her self-admitted imperfections, she puts herself out there,” Christie-Bierschenk said.

“Susan is a perfect example of sustained passion.”

That passion was one of the reasons why Christie-Bierschenk found it hard to say no when she was asked to facilitate the publication committee.

“It’s very hard to say no to a person like Susan,” she said.

Kelly, who acted as the editor for the project, among other tasks, said the hardest part of the process for the committee was choosing which heroes would be featured in the first volume.

“We struggled for months with that,” Kelly said.

But through a democratic elimination process, with Knickerbocker graciously surrendering any input, the board managed to whittle the content down to 51 heroes, knowing that more volumes were on the horizon.

Ultimately, though meeting their goal was a challenge, the project became a labor of love for the team and they are more than happy with how it turned out.

Christie-Bierschenk is a business coach and sees a place for the book on the desk of some of the people she tries to help.

She intends to buy a stack of the books to give to her corporate leader clients who are continually being called upon to be better at what they do.

“I think this book speaks to focusing on what you do best and what you care about most,” Christie-Bierschenk said.

“I think it’s the perfect book for leaders and corporations who want to make a difference, to focus on giving back rather than on just a rising career,” she said.

Hahn, too, is excited by how much she thinks people will love the book.

“This book is a complete South Whidbey gem,” Hahn said.

“Everything about it defines South Whidbey Island — it’s homespun.”

Christie-Bierschenk, Hahn and Kelly all stressed the specialness of the book and how that directly reflects Whidbey Island.

“What makes this island beautiful is not just the beauty and the views, as Mary Knight writes in the introduction,” Christie-Bierschenk said.

“It’s the amazing people who live here. I cry every time I read it.”

The Hometown Heroes Happening will be an old-fashioned ice cream social with cake, ice cream and live music.

The book cost $25 and will be available for purchase at the Langley Chamber of Commerce, the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, Island Coffeehouse & Books, BookBay, The Moonraker Bookstore and online at www.whidbeyhometownheroes.org.

Pre-ordered books will be available at the event. Partial proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the nonprofit South Whidbey Commons and its roster of youth programs. Further proceeds will go toward the publication of Volume 2.

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