Gramma Nan

Gramma's obituary ran this weekend in the Everett newspaper, and I thought I'd share it with you. Chuck & I were talking about her last night, and about how she is one of the best examples I've ever seen of someone who refused to just "retire and do nothing" with the later years of her life. She served her community until she physically couldn't anymore, she saw things that weren't right in the world and she was determined to make them better. What we were reflecting on is that in most churches it seems acceptable, and even the norm, for people to reach retirement age and then be allowed to simply fill pews on Sunday or attend a couple social events, but the expectation is not that people would remain involved and working for the Kingdom of God. We don't think this is exactly what God had in mind--the church was never meant to be a social club one showed up at and was entertained by. We want to follow in Grandma's footsteps, serving until we physically can't. And what we find even more interesting is that Grandma wasn't part of any faith community. She wasn't motivated to serve because of some Sunday sermon, she just had this deep conviction that there were things in this world that needed to be fixed and she knew someone had to do the work. So for those of us who ARE involved in church communities, who DO have a picture of what the kingdom of God should look like, we have no excuse to not go do something to improve our community. Grandma wanted to leave this world a little better than she found it, and I think there are many in Everett who would say she was able to do just that. Chuck and I are looking forward to joining with the rest of the family in August to celebrate her!

Nancy Weis, age 80, of Everett, WA, born September 21, 1928 to William N. and Emily B. Leaf passed away June 17, 2009.
She attended Augustana University in Rock Island, Illinois and had a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and History. She was a professional volunteer for 50 years and a supermom for 60 years.
She was a charter member of Assistance League of Everett, president of Red Cross Board, visiting nurse Board and United Way president of both county and state. She was an active member of Zonta International for over 20 years. Nancy was a Citizen Advisor for the Department of Social and Health Services and Department of Children and Family Services. Nancy was also a trustee of Everett Community, board member of Compass Health and member of Human Services Council. Nancy was Citizen of the Year in 1978, Centennial Citizen of 1993 and received the Liz McLaughlin Human Service Award in 2000.
Surviving her are children, Elizabeth R. Rathbun, William Weis, Susan W. Hanson, Patty Erickson and Peggy Calhoun; eight grandchildren, Harmony Forbes, Sarah and Megan Hanson, Cori, Chad and Jeff Erickson and Adam and Chelan Calhoun; and two great-grandchildren, Jacob and Jessica Forbes.
A Celebration of Nancy's Life will be on Sunday, August 16, 2009. Please join us. 360 856-4517.
Please make donations to your favorite charity. Lastly, do something special for some one in Nancy's name. Remember her over a cheap glass of white wine, a hot dog roasted on an open fire, fresh caught dungeness crab and a walk on your favorite beach.

In 2000, a beautiful article ran in the paper up in the Seattle area honoring the life of service Grandma gave--her legacy if you will. I love this snapshot of her life. Take a few minutes to read it, and may her legacy inspire someone to go volunteer in some new way. It's never too late to start!

Nancy L. Weis ~ Professional Volunteer

By Roberta Jonnet

It is said that the leaf does not fall far from the tree. When Nancy Leaf Weis was asked what made her want to reach out to her community, she said, “Well, I just remember my mother volunteering.” Nancy helped, too. Referring to a time that her mother was a Red Cross volunteer working at a flood site, Nancy says, “I remember standing on a bank serving mash potatoes out of a brand new garbage can to all the workers.”

Nancy arrived in Snohomish County in 1953 and began her long term of service to the people of this county. The Human Services Council of Snohomish County’s Liz McLaughlin Award of Excellence presented to Nancy in 2000 says, “(this) award epitomizes an individual committed to excellence in the delivery and maintenance of quality human services to the citizens of Snohomish County.” The award is given to “acknowledge a lifetime of contribution which expands contributions in the actual development and delivery of services and includes contributions in the area of public policy.”

Nancy sums up her commitment to community with her business card, which reads, “Nancy L. Weis, Professional Volunteer, A People Caring Person.”

Nancy was born at Scofield Erickson Army Base, Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father was a 1923 West Point graduate. Nancy terms herself “an Army brat” and says, “I went to twelve different schools before I graduated from high school.” She attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. She met her future husband, Don, who was a pre-med student at the University of Iowa. They married and began life in a Quonset hut on the Iowa campus.

In response to the Navy’s call upon Don, Nancy says, “We got out the map and thought, ‘We can have an internship in Massachusetts, Florida or Bremerton, Washington." We (looked at Bremerton and) thought, ‘We’ve never been there.’ We took one look at the Northwest and said, ‘Forget the rest of the country!’”

The Weis family was comprised of four children at that time, and a fifth was on the way. The couple bought a “beach house” on Lake Stevens. Nancy laughs and says, “That first year the pipes froze, and there were rats. The kids had mumps for Thanksgiving and chicken pox for Christmas.” Asked why she became involved in the community with so much going on at home, she replies, “I just couldn’t stay home and be a mother. We started our own childcare center at Lake Stevens because I had this three-year old who had an imaginary bus driver. And I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this child in reality.’ We started in the basement of one of the gal’s houses. It was a volunteer thing, and the parents took part. I was the music director (because) I played the piano, and somebody else did the art. We had two scooters and an inner tube; that was our gym stuff.”

Nancy always enjoyed being part of the community, whether at work or at play. “I always tell people I’m too stupid to play bridge,” she laughs, “and I like to play nine holes of golf, and not keep score, and go out to lunch. I don’t want to play eighteen holes of golf.” She continues, “I did a lot of volunteering at the school. I was a room mother for a hundred years.” When five school levies failed, the district had no library. Nancy and some of the other parents volunteered to keep the library open. She also supported her children’s participation in extracurricular activities. At one time Nancy had a daughter each on the cheer squad in elementary, junior high, high school and college teams.

As the wife of an anesthesiologist, Nancy was deeply involved with the Medical Auxiliary. The auxiliary went beyond giving away “Mr. Yuk” stickers and began a reference list for medical students so they would know where the scholarships were and what courses they had to take. “There were no computers,” Nancy says, “We just looked it up, typed it out, and got it on a card that was kind of like a Rolodex.”

When United Way of Snohomish County asked for a representative to start a new Social Planning Committee, Nancy volunteered. Asked to serve on United Way’s board, Nancy was the first woman president in Snohomish County. She went on to represent Snohomish County at the state level, and became the first woman president of the United Way of Washington. “It was a real education,” she says. “I met people from all over the county and learned about programs.” Nancy paid her own way across the country. “Most of the men who were on the board, their companies would send them,” she says. “I didn’t have anyone to underwrite me.”

In 1965 Nancy became a charter member of the Assistance League of Everett and served as the first Operation School Bell chairperson. “Each community started a program their community needed,” she recalls. “We started Operation School Bell because we learned from the teachers that there were kids who were unable to come to school because they didn’t have school clothes.”

The school district gave the Assistance League a portable building - with no bathroom. “We had to work there for hours!” she remembers. The women started by collecting their children’s outgrown clothing. Nancy says, “We outfitted one hundred children that first year, most of them in Everett.” More than 850 children had been clothed by the start of school in the year 2000.

“I loved that job because you knew you’d taken care of kids and changed their lives that day!” Nancy states emphatically.

Nancy was asked to serve on a Department of Social and Health Services pilot program called the Foster Parent Citizen group. She stayed for six years. “It was really exhausting,” she says. “You hear about kids who have had thirteen placements and they’re only ten years old. And it’s not the department’s fault. I want to ask these people who criticize, ‘How many foster children do you have?’ It’s a hard job. I had foster children. I took teenage girls and had five over a three to four-year period.” Nancy remained close to her foster children. One of them had her wedding at the Weis home on Rucker Hill, and years later Nancy was able to be in the delivery room with another foster daughter when the had her first baby.

Nancy also served on the Homeless Task Force for four years and became chair. “We learned there was some money available, and it makes a lot of sense to cooperate because a person may have a hotel room from the Red Cross and it gets you out of the cold, (but) you need to make a plan; you need a caseworker or a bus ticket home,” she explains. “We needed to have everybody talking to everybody.” At one time a person had to go to five different agencies, but the Homeless Task Force streamlined and computerized the process through the Red Cross of Snohomish County.

“I have a passion for people taking care of one another,” Nancy says. Her children know that she is such a person herself. One of them says, “Through the years, we as a family have relied on her for her knowledge, her willingness to always be there to support, teach, organize, direct, respect and always love us, no matter what.”

Perhaps when asked why they do all this, Nancy’s children will give the same reply that she did. “I just remember my mother volunteering.” It is a legacy worth repeating.