After 33 years, Wilson retires from hospital commission

Don Wilson has retired after 33 years of service on the Public Hospital District commission of Mason County.

According to a news release, Wilson announced his retirement at the November meeting. The Board of Hospital District Commissioners appointed Don Welander to fill Wilson’s seat as commissioner No. 1 and on the finance and facility committees.

“It is with gratitude that I announce the retirement of Don Wilson from our public hospital district board,” Public Hospital District No. 1 Superintendent & Mason Health Chief Executive Officer Eric Moll said in a news release. “Don Wilson has been the backbone of Mason Health having served as a commissioner for over 33 years. Don’s leadership and service has been widely recognized over the years, having received the prestigious Flame Award from Mason General Hospital Foundation and the Health Care Champion Award from the Mason Thurston Medical Society.”

Welander is a lifelong Mason County resident and is married to Lisa Welander, a newly elected Mason General Hospital Foundation board member. Welander worked for Safeway for 38 years, retiring as a director in 2015. He went to work for the Shelton School District after that, teaching business, marketing and financial math at CHOICE High School before being named the school district’s director of career connected learning.

“As a lifelong resident of Mason County, I have admired the work and care that our citizens receive through Mason Health,” Welander said in a news release. “I am excited to join the district’s leadership team and I look forward to learning more about Mason Health as well as serving the community from a different perspective.”