EVERETT – Five years later, tears still well in Jerri Watkins’ eyes when she describes losing her husband to acute leukemia.
He had been diagnosed just days before his death in May 2001. Without the help of the Red Cross, though, his death might have been even more traumatic.
The Armed Forces Emergency Services office of the Snohomish County chapter of the American Red Cross moved quickly to contact Watkins’ son Brian and get him home from his stateside Army post before his father died.
The experience with the Red Cross made such an impression that Watkins stepped forward to help when she discovered the county chapter of the Armed Forces Emergency Services needed volunteers.
Watkins has been a volunteer in the office, housed at Naval Station Everett, for more than a year.
In that time, she has helped many servicemen and women and their families. She’s arranged a special webcam birth announcement for a sailor on his Navy ship and helped a military wife with financial assistance so she could be at the bedside of her dying mother.
In fact, the dozen-plus volunteers at the local Armed Forces Emergency Services office helped 773 military personnel and their families from July 2005 through June 2006, said program coordinator Bev Walker.
Watkins had always been the volunteering type. A resident of the same south Everett neighborhood since 1969, she worked in her children’s classrooms, was active in PTA and soccer, raised money for Children’s Hospital and took care of elderly relatives.
She and her husband, Fred, had their own business, and they believed in being a part of their community.
“It’s so important to give back,” she said.
The year 2001 was a rough one for Watkins. Within a six-month period, she lost her husband, her stepfather and her father-in-law. Since then, three other family members have died. Of course, there have been joyous occasions, too. She is comforted by and enjoys her four children and four grandchildren, and she has many friends.
But becoming a widow at age 48 wasn’t easy, Watkins said.
Jumping in to help at the Red Cross has been a great way to move on. Watkins volunteers all day Fridays at the Armed Forces Emergency Services office, and one week a month she is on call after hours, spending every night and the weekend by the phone.
“With six deaths in five years, I think this was a good calling for me. I knew I could do the work because I had been there before,” Watkins said. “But you don’t have to be related to the military or have had similar experience to help. All you need is a kind heart.”
Watkins’ heart was very evident to Kim LeVasseur of Marysville, who last year needed Red Cross help to get her son, Michael, an Army private serving in Iraq, back to the United States before his father died. Within eight hours after the private’s commanding officer was notified, Michael was on his way, LeVasseur said.
“Jerri was great. She worked diligently. She was very caring and called back several times to reassure me,” LeVasseur said. “I am sure that her own experiences helped her help me. She had been through the same panic and the same emotions.”
Watkins believes most people don’t realize the Red Cross offers this service to military personnel. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization not affiliated with the U.S. government. And without the Red Cross, the military wouldn’t be able to help troops with their emergency needs, she said.
The Red Cross helps military personnel stay in touch with their loved ones, arrange emergency leaves, secure emergency financial assistance and obtain support services such as counseling and veterans benefits.
“And not all communication we do for families is sad. Often it’s the birth of a child,” Watkins said. “That’s fun.”
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.
To get assistance from the Armed Forces Emergency Services office, call 425-304-4476.
To volunteer for the Snohomish County chapter of the American Red Cross, call 425-740-2327 or e-mail volcoord@snohomishcounty.redcross.org.
Financial donations to the Red Cross chapter can be mailed to 2530 Lombard Ave., Everett, WA 98201. Contributions also can be made at www.snohomishcounty.redcross.org.
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