Michele and Denise LaRue were honored for their decades of business ownership in Langley during a council meeting Monday night.

With the council chambers’ seats filled with more than 35 people, and plenty more standing against the walls and near the main entrance, Mayor Fred McCarthy presented the LaRue sisters with mayor’s awards of excellence. He recognized their commitment to successfully doing business in the city.

They’re called the merchant princesses of Langley, and together they have more than a century of retail ownership experience.

Michele owned Sister and Big Sister, and Denise owned The Cottage. The last LaRue store, Big Sister, closed earlier this month, ending a several-decade run of a LaRue-owned shop on First Street.

Sue Frause read from a section of a profile she wrote years ago for Northwest Business Magazine. It detailed their family’s history of running shops and services in town, starting with the LaRues’ parents, Travers and Virginia.

“We’re so glad to have you two LaRue girls in our town,” Frause said at the conclusion of her reading.

Virginia LaRue was affectionately called the Queen of Langley and grande dames. She died in 2011, preceded by Travers decades earlier in 1982.

McCarthy said they were reported to have 94 years of combined retail experience in Frause’s profile from several years ago, then joked they must be pushing 100 now.

Several city and county leaders attended the award presentation, including Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson. She thanked them for their work on South Whidbey.

Lorinda Kay, program manager of the Langley Main Street Association, praised them for their pleasant personalities and approach to business.

“The two of you have always been so gracious and wonderful,” she said.

Councilwoman Rene Neff said she remembered her daughter in-law needing a wedding dress and finding it at Sister. That illustrated, said Neff, the LaRues’ sense of style they brought to Langley.

The ceremony brought both LaRue women to tears.

“It’s such an honor,” Michele LaRue said through a choked-up voice with tears falling down her face.

Added Denise LaRue: “It’s been an absolutely remarkable life to have a chance to live here.”

A mayor’s excellence award was also bestowed to both LaRue sisters in honor of their mother, Virginia LaRue. They each received a pin and a framed certificate.