Volunteer helped people from all walks
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007
To celebrate her 70th birthday, Beatrice Ann Mansker had an orca whale tattooed on her chest.
She loved American Indian art, whales and volunteering.
Mansker was chairman of volunteers for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society at Smokey Point, a charitable organization sponsored by the Navy to help active and retired Navy and Marine Corps service members, their families and others in times of need.
Workers could offer grants to folks with broken-down cars, overdue rent or other emergencies.
Lt. Cmdr. Edwin Carroll, command chaplain at Naval Station Everett, said Mansker was a community icon and a treasured friend of the Navy who will never be replaced.
Beatrice Ann Mansker, 72, of Snohomish, known as Queen Bea, died Jan. 31 after a brief illness. She recently earned the NMCRS Meritorious Service Award and a Six Thousand Hour volunteer pin.
She volunteered for more than 25 years with the Snohomish County Chapter of the American Red Cross where Bev Walker, director of the chapter’s Armed Forces Emergency Services Office, was her friend for 13 years.
“I think of her life of service,” Walker said. “We will never know how many lives she touched.”
Walker said she loved being invited to Mansker family pajama parties, where cutting up was always on the menu. Mansker took delight in being invited to various events to portray Clara Barton, Red Cross founder, wearing a look-alike dress and using carefully studied dialogue.
Mansker was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas, and son, Thomas Jr. She is survived by her children: Gregory and his wife, Linda; Tammy and George Coulter; Glen and his wife, Janett; and Susan and Kevin Needles; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Hours before her son died of AIDS in 1989, he told his mother he was weary of the battle.
“I’m ready to go,” Thomas Mansker Jr. told her in sign language. “I love you.”
Her 30-year-old son was born deaf. After his death, his mother began counseling others with AIDS and taught prevention classes to children and adults. She taught the disabled and the hearing-impaired, served on many AIDS task forces and directed a summer camp for the developmentally disabled.
Her shelves were loaded with awards, among them the Snohomish County Labor Council’s Community Service Volunteer of the Year award. She was the recipient of the prestigious Glassberg Award, the highest award given to a Snohomish County Chapter volunteer as well as an Exceptional Volunteer Award for positive example and inspiration.
Her enthusiastic volunteering began in 1983, when she taught first aid for the Red Cross. Kris Krischano, Red Cross spokesman, said among her many accomplishments was the development of a “tough talk” HIV/AIDS program for teens that became the pilot program for a national peer education program.
Down to earth, she never hesitated to demonstrate to a classroom of students how to put on a condom.
“Bea also co-hosted an hour-long local radio program called ‘Humanity in the Midst of War’ built around the precepts of the Geneva Conventions,” Krischano said. “Bea will be missed by her Red Cross family and all who knew her. Her infectious sense of humor, love for Red Cross volunteerism, and compassion for others will be long remembered.”
She was the epitome of dedication at one Red Cross event, shining her famous smile, even if this time it was a toothless grin.
Mansker explained that her dog ran off with her dentures, and it would be a few days before they could be replaced. But there she was, teeth or no teeth, not deterred from giving her time and service to the cause she loved.
Friend Barb Campbell said Mansker crocheted her great-grandchildren’s christening gowns. They were both members of a Red Hat Society.
“She was never down,” Campbell said. “Bea was a person who could draw you out.”
And Mansker was such a rowdy sports fan that, her son, Greg, charged neighbor kids a quarter to see his mother rambunctiously root for her favorite teams on TV.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
