Mukilteo police clerk’s death leaves tremendous void

Published 9:15 pm Saturday, June 21, 2008

Lisa Reimers wasn’t a police officer, but Mukilteo’s police chief saw her as one of the most important people in his department.

“Every organization has key members. She was definitely a key member,” said Chief Mike Murphy.

Reimers spent nearly 17 years with the Mukilteo Police Department, where she supervised records and evidence and oversaw much of the clerical work. “The people left behind can’t even do all the jobs she did,” Murphy said. “We’re going to feel that loss for some time.”

Reimers, who lived in Stanwood with her husband, Ken, died May 25. She was 39.

Her family and co-workers are reeling from her death, which followed what she initially thought was the flu.

Ken Reimers, 39, said his wife had gone to work ailing for a few days, but was sent home sick. “She loved her job, and had a lot of responsibility,” he said.

She had visited a doctor several days before she died, and thought she had bronchitis, he said. When her health took a serious turn for the worse, they called for help and she was taken to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon. Lisa Reimers died of what Ken Reimers said likely was pneumonia complicated by a staph infection. “We’re not 100 percent sure,” he said.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her parents, Richard and Denise Marinaccio, of Palm Harbor, Fla.; her brother, Brian Marinaccio, of Marysville, his wife Christina and their two children; her grandmother, Florence Marinaccio; and many friends and co-workers.

One of those co-workers was Lisa’s best friend.

Glenda Duran started with the city of Mukilteo as a volunteer 14 years ago, and within a year was hired to work in records and evidence with Reimers.

“We sat next to each other for the next 13 years,” Duran said. “Being so close — literally, we sat two feet apart — we started to talk. We talked about everything.”

Reimers was maid of honor at Duran’s wedding, and Duran went on vacation to Mexico with Ken and Lisa. Even on days off, the friends spoke by phone. “She was an avid reader, as I am. We always thought the same things were funny — or not,” Duran said.

“I have seen a lot of sisters who weren’t as close as those two,” Murphy said.

Reimers was born and raised in Toms River, N.J., and spent much of her childhood at the Jersey shore.

“My wife used to take her to the beach every day,” said Reimers’ father, Richard Marinaccio. The family had a horse farm, and Reimers was involved in riding and showing horses. “She belonged to 4-H and all those kinds of things,” said Marinaccio. His daughter had a lifelong love of animals and always had dogs, he said.

The family moved to Snohomish County in 1987. After finishing high school in New Jersey, Lisa started at Edmonds Community College. She met Ken Reimers on her second day at EdCC. They were both 18. He’ll never forget it.

“We were waiting for a class. One of my friends happened to walk by, and Lisa was across the hall. She was really tan, she had just moved from New Jersey,” Ken Reimers said. “Out of the blue, my friend asked if I had a girlfriend. I said, ‘No, but I’m always looking.’ I looked over at her and she gave me a smile. She had a really special smile.

“We hit it off and were dating a day or two later,” he said. They were married Sept. 1, 1990. Even when working, they were close. Ken Reimers is assistant superintendent for maintenance at Harbour Pointe Golf Club in Mukilteo.

As conscientious as she was on the job, Ken Reimers said his wife could leave work behind at day’s end. “When she crossed the Snohomish River bridge for home, that was it,” he said.

The couple took many vacations, to Mexico, Hawaii and Florida, where she loved to read, relax and get some sun.

Reimers is proud of his wife’s academic achievements. She was studying, mostly online, for a bachelor’s degree through Columbia College in Marysville.

The Mukilteo police chief saw a contradiction in Reimers. “She didn’t like speaking, she was very shy. She had just finished a speaking class at Columbia College. She hated the class, but she made an A. She made an A in everything,” Murphy said. While public speaking terrified her, “she was the most personable, well-liked person. Everyone stopped and talked with her in the department,” he said.

She was meticulous in her work, Murphy said. “If something wasn’t quite right, it would drive her crazy,” he said, recalling a time when Reimers spent a week trying to track down a one-cent discrepancy in a petty cash fund.

Reimers was so important to the department that a police flag that flew outside her office window was given to her husband.

“Her dedication was just unreal,” Murphy said.

Reporter Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.