Judy Larimore’s list of accomplishments might be enough for a dozen lifetimes.

The 85-year-old Sequim woman hosted the TV program “Southwest Kansas Today” for six years, owned a home decor store Crafters Showroom in Monterey, Calif. for 17 years, became a certified scuba diver, considers herself a green thumb, sold real estate and various ads, rode horses, worked as a stewardess, and traveled the world all while being a mom, grandma and great-grandma.

Her latest achievement marks her 35th and likely last showcase of her work – photography and oil and watercolors – at the Field Arts & Events Hall, 201 W. Front St. in Port Angeles. The hall’s cafe features 20 photographs of the Olympic Peninsula, and a handful of her paintings. Her work will be displayed through May 17 with some of it available for purchase.

Starting at age 10 snapping the world around her with a Brownie Camera, Larimore said her interest in photography has never waned.

“I see everything I look at as a photograph,” she said, noting her day-to-day life and experiences taking photos across the globe.

“When I was married and had a (Nikon Nikkormat) it weighed a ton and had a 200 zoom lens on it, I carried it to Europe three times,” Larimore said.

Even in her 80s, she’s still kayaking three times a week and her favorite places to photograph are Rialto Beach and Salt Creek on the peninsula.

Either using her Nikon or cell phone, Larimore is snapping shots of “everything I see around the next corner.”

“I’m in awe of everything,” she said.

While it’s not in her show due to its framed size and because she doesn’t have the negative, Larimore said her favorite photograph was snapped during a whale watching experience in 1998.

“I did a one-week trip to Baja where gray whales breed and have their babies,” she said.

In her photo, one boat has people petting a mother gray whale, and in the neighboring boat people are reacting to the whale exhaling water on them. It remains a multi-sensory photograph, Larimore said.

“It smelled horrible but tasted worse,” she said.

But the experience was so much fun she returned the following year.

Photo courtesy of Judy Larimore/ Sequim’s Judy Larimore displays some local photographs and oil and watercolor art at the Field Arts & Events Hall through May 17.

Last show

Larimore has always been a go-getter.

Her first one-woman exhibit was in Kansas in 1975, she said, and her 34 other shows have also been in California and Washington. Her work has been published in several California and Washington books, and she’s attended photography seminars led by National Geographic photographer James Katz, wildlife photographer Art Wolf, and Ansel Adams workshop photographer Charles Crammer.

Larimore added underwater photography to her resume after she became a certified scuba diver in 1983.

For painting, she studied locally and out-of-state with Sally Cays, Richard Bennett, Carol Janda, Bob Brown, and Steve Heckman.

Her work can be found in private and public collections, including the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Hewlett Packard, Monterey Beach Hotel, the Federal Aviation Agency, and locally in Olympic Medical Physicians Clinic in Port Angeles and in the Sequim Civic Center.

Efforts to display her work might be done though, she admits.

Setting up the Port Angeles show was a lot of work, Larimore said, taking about five hours to meticulously place her art.

But her photography will continue.

“It’s always been part of me; it’s like my right hand,” Larimore said.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ This photograph a whale watching excursion in 1998 is likely the photograph that stands out as one of her most memorable for its multi-sensory experience. In her photo, one boat has people petting a mother gray whale, and in the neighboring boat people are reacting to the whale exhaling water on them. “It smelled horrible but tasted worse,” she said.

Her efforts in the community as a volunteer will continue as well. She volunteers at Field Arts & Events Hall, Tim’s Place and the Shipley Center where she leads an autobiography writing group in hopes of “being an inspiration at our age to show we are still active and productive.”

She’ll continue to create and garden in Sequim, too. When she moved to Sequim 20-plus years ago, Larimore planted 250 trees and bushes that became a botanical haven for her and current horse Sierra.

“Every day is a new adventure,” she said.

“I’m one of those people that believes when you’re shoveling manure, there must be a horse under here somewhere.

“I think I may be a little Pollyanna. To me, there’s always a silver lining. It could be the darkest period in your life, if you just hang in there, something really beautiful can happen (the next day).”

Larimore has three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

For more information about Field Arts & Events Hall, visit fieldhallevents.org.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Judy Larimore greets her horse Sierra on a sunny Sequim day last week. Larimore moved to Sequim in the early 2000s and planted 200-plus trees and bushes to create a haven for she and her animals.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ One hallway in Judy Larimore’s home is filled with countless photographs from her many trips. “Everyday is a new adventure,” she said.