MONROE — Donnetta Walser, a former mayor of Monroe, died Thursday morning from breast cancer.
Walser, 73, was a retired teacher who was active in local politics. She is survived by her husband, Fred. They have two sons, Matt and Scott, and two grandchildren.
The city announced that flags will be flown at half-staff through Dec. 30.
Walser was admitted to Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland a week ago, not long after she learned that the cancer metastasized. She was surrounded by family and friends in the days that followed. She was holding her husband’s hand when she passed.
A celebration of life is planned for April 1, a date she picked herself.
Walser grew up in Idaho and went to college there. She asked for her ashes to be scattered there, where she still has family, Fred Walser said.
She taught for 28 years. Of those, 27 were in Monroe schools. She often got calls from former students, and “she was so proud of that,” her husband said.
Walser was on the Monroe City Council from 1976 to 1983 and from 1999 to 2002. She then served as mayor until 2009. She also spent 16 years on the civil service commission.
Sometimes, her council meetings would go until 2 a.m. She would come home and correct students’ papers and catch a little sleep before her boys got up at 6 a.m. for school.
Donnetta Walser wasn’t one to raise her voice, and she had a knack for building consensus from her all-male peers on the council, Fred Walser said. She also knew how to pick up the phone and get senators on the line.
He experienced her persuasiveness himself from time to time.
“She was a heck of a lady, soft-spoken, but when she didn’t agree with something she would just give me the look, and I knew right away to change course,” he said.
Donnetta Walser had leadership roles at Senior Services of Snohomish County, the county chapter of the League of Women Voters, and the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition.
She struggled in recent years with heart failure, a broken hip and a severe leg infection. She underwent three surgeries and two rounds of chemotherapy for the cancer.
The city public works building was named in her honor last year during a ceremony she attended.
Donnetta and Fred Walser celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this October. They took trips around the world together, including seven ocean cruises.
They met in 1970. He was a Washington State Patrol trooper then, and he asked his landlord if he could keep his patrol car in the garage.
He was told the garage was used by a young school teacher who was away. That caught his attention.
He got his first look at her the day she got back. He knew she was the one.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.
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