Her crusade for the local hospital earns a lifetime award

“I just think if you live in a place, you should get involved,” Arlington’s Mary Jean Kraski says.

Mary Jean Kraski

Mary Jean Kraski

By Douglas Buell

Arlington Times

ARLINGTON — Arlington’s Mary Jean Kraski questioned the cramped conditions in the emergency room in Cascade Valley Hospital that lacked curtains or privacy, and caused overflow patients to lie on gurneys in the hallway where the public passed through.

Putting her foot down in a gentle way, the hospital commissioner asked, “When are we going to do something about the ER?”

That question became the catalyst for a $45 million bond issue to expand and renovate the aging facility overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2007. The newly renovated hospital opened three years later with a 16-treatment bay emergency unit and plenty more modern medical features.

For her decades of service to the hospital and the community, the Stillaguamish Senior Center is honoring Kraski at its annual Lifetime Achievement Breakfast on Wednesday at the center.

She was born and grew up in Seattle. When the Kraski family moved to Arlington in 1979, they opened Kraski’s Furniture downtown, and wasted no time becoming involved in the community.

He husband, Bob, entered local politics and served on the City Council for 10 years before being becoming a three-term mayor. Mary Jean worked briefly in the family store, then went to school to become a travel agent, a job she loved, while the couple raised their three sons.

After eight years at their first house on Robin Hood Drive, they built and moved into one of the first dozen homes in Gleneagle by the golf course, where they stayed for the next 31 years.

Her involvement with Cascade Valley started in the early 1980s when a neighbor encouraged her to join the hospital advisory board. At the time, the number of hospital district commissioners grew from three to five, and she and Ray McClure filled the new seats. She served as a commissioner until stepping down in 2006.

Kraski worked in the Sleep Center in the Whitehorse Family Medicine building for seven years before retiring in 2013. Since then, she has served with the Cascade Valley Hospital Foundation.

She reflected on the efforts that led to an expanded and modernized hospital that tripled in size.

“The hospital was over a hundred years old, and the community knew we needed to do something,” Kraski said.

It took many hands to get the bond to voters on the way to a new campus.

She said improvements brought much more than an emergency room, new buildings and state-of-the-art equipment, a comfortable lobby, gift and coffee shop and public art.

“You get that with the new hospital, but you also bring in new doctors with more specialties, so it has worked out very well,” Kraski said.

During her tenure on the commission, the hospital district bought property on 172nd in Smokey Point, and eventually built a clinic. “We knew that area was going to grow,” she said. “Has it ever.”

Skagit Regional Health took over management of Cascade Valley Hospital and its clinics in June 2016 through a merger.

Kraski has also volunteered at the Arlington Food Bank for over six years — a task shared sometimes by her grandchildren — and has tried to help out every week except when events happen — like her big move recently.

If Kraski ever needs a visual reminder of the towering hospital that she crusaded for, she just moved from her Gleneagle home to within walking distance of the hospital from her condo on Medical Center Drive.

Her husband of 55 years passed away in 2017.

They were both firm believers in community service, and she’s proud that it’s an idea that’s taken hold across two generations. “I’ve got incredible sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids; they all help out others a lot, and I see them all the time.”

Bob Campbell met Mary Jean while serving as hospital administrator from 1987-2000.

She is deserving of the lifetime achievement award, said Campbell, who now serves on the senior center’s board.

“She is a clear thinker, and not afraid to stand up for something that needs to be done,” he said.

Kraski has attended previous award breakfasts at the senior center and enjoyed them, but she is in the dark about what to expect.

She is humble about the accolades to come.

“I really don’t feel like I’ve done anything that exceptional,” Kraski said. “I just think if you live in a place, you should get involved. There’s just so much need out there.”

The Arlington Rotary Club provides leadership to the senior center, and plays an active role in the Lifetime Achievement Breakfast.

The Stillaguamish Senior Center Lifetime Achievement Breakfast will be 7:30-9 a.m. Wednesday in the center at 18308 Smokey Point Blvd. To RSVP, call 360-653-4551 or email dklemens@stillycenter.org.

Admission is free, but the fundraising breakfast welcomes donations to support senior center programs.

This story originally appeared in the Arlington Times, a sibling paper of The Daily Herald.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Gold Bar in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Lynnwood man dies in fatal crash on US 2 near Gold Bar

The Washington State Patrol said the driver was street racing prior to the crash on Friday afternoon.

Thousands gather to watch fireworks over Lake Ballinger from Nile Shrine Golf Course and Lake Ballinger Park on Thursday, July 3, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Thousands ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at Mountlake Terrace fireworks show

The city hosts its Independence Day celebrations the day before the July 4 holiday.

Liam Shakya, 3, waves at a float passing by during the Fourth of July Parade on Friday, July 4, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett celebrates Fourth of July with traditional parade

Thousands celebrated Independence Day by going to the annual parade, which traveled through the the city’s downtown core.

Ian Saltzman
Everett Public Schools superintendent wins state award

A group of school administrators named Ian Saltzman as a top educational leader.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.