Sometimes all it takes is a few simple words of encouragement to help someone.

Judge Dave Larson was at a concession stand at Federal Way stadium, serving a pancake breakfast with the Kiwanis Club of Federal Way, when a woman he had previously sentenced for a DUI approached him.

She told him her turning point was what he had said to her as she was crying, preparing to go to jail.

“‘It’s going to be OK. You’re going to get through this,’ that’s all I had to say to her that made a difference,” Larson recalled. “That simple thing of reaching out and saying it’s going to be OK. You’re gonna get through this.”

When Larson’s not helping people turn their lives around, individually, as presiding judge of the Federal Way Municipal Court, he’s helping the Federal Way community in the countless number of volunteer positions he’s held throughout 20 years.

“In my book, he is the ‘person of the year’ and is an ‘impact player’ in any community,” said Mark Freitas, who nominated Larson as the Mirror’s Citizen of the Month. “We are lucky to have him.”

As a Kiwanis Club of Federal Way board member since 1998, Larson has held the title of president and vice president multiple times, he’s founded the Aktion Club of Federal Way, the Panther Lake K-Kids and has earned numerous awards, including the Doug Benton Presidents Award, Distinguished Service, the Hixson Fellow and Kiwanian of the Year.

Larson has also served on the city’s Human Services Commission, Federal Way C.E.R.T. and the Board of Ethics as chair. He’s currently a board member of Advancing Leadership and has an impressive record of serving in Federal Way Public Schools, which includes time on the school board of directors as president, as coach of the RoboEagles robotics team and multiple PTA positions, among several other volunteers positions in the district. He’s also served on the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, the Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation Division, has founded the Federal Way Helmet Coalition and serves as chair of the Pastoral Council for St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

“Dave Larson is a well-rounded member of this community,” Freitas said. “He has a unique perspective as to what it takes to live, work and play in the area. He broadens that individual knowledge into what it takes to succeed in the community, this one or anywhere.”

Freitas said he teaches by example and is always upbeat, optimistic and firm.

“He is ‘just Dave,’” Freitas added.

“I don’t think I do enough,” Larson said. “I just don’t think there’s enough that can be done. It just never seems like it’s enough but there’s a lot of good people in this community who do a lot of good things who probably deserve attention more than I do … I just try to be Dave.”

A resident of Federal Way for 48 years, Larson has been a judge in Federal Way since he was appointed in February 2008 and was subsequently elected in 2009 and 2013. On top of his duties as a judge, Larson has taught a practical law course at Todd Beamer High School once a week for about seven years.

“My job, I see that as trying to help people have better lives by not coming to court, whether it’s criminal activity or it’s just traffic infractions, getting people to understand they’re going to be a lot happier if they don’t see me and see judges,” Larson said. “That’s why I love this job, because we can help people have better lives.”

Better lives for people such as one Federal Way man Larson had to sentence. The man was dubbed a chronic criminal by police and had been caught red handed on video surveillance.

“I think I can tell this without welling up…” Larson said. “He said during his allocution he was fed up with his life, he didn’t like what he was doing … so during his allocution he said, ‘Your Honor, I see you in the community, I see you in the concession stands at the stadium, I see you doing things.’ And he says, ‘I want to be like you.’”

Larson said there are no words to describe what it feels like to help someone even if it’s just a small part.

“You can’t explain the feeling, you have to have it happen and when you do experience it, you go ‘Ok, I want more of this. I want to be able to help people, but again, it keeps going back to I’ll never be a grouchy old judge because I understand that I can only do so much,” he said. “It’s up to that individual to change their life.”

Larson stressed it’s important to give back for the right reasons and not for one’s own gain. He personally believes that it’s his responsibility to the community to make it the best it can be.

“Everyone of us has

a responsibility to help where we can and that’s what makes a community, a community,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re just a bunch of separate individuals doing what we want and whenever we want without regard of how we can make things better.”

To nominate a Citizen of the Month, email a short blurb about the person you think is worthy to editor@federalwaymirror.com.