Rita Matheny

Rita Matheny

Rita Matheny was born in 1922, the tenth of thirteen children of James and Ann McGarry, in Belfast, Ireland. Rita grew up an Irish Catholic and was educated by the Sisters of Mercy. Near the end of World War II, she met Frank Matheny, an American civilian working for Lockheed Corporation in Dublin.
Their's was a world-wind wartime romance replete with obstacles. Not only was there a world war going on, Frank was soon to be sent back to the states. Somehow this young man of 24 years had to convince not only Rita's family but also their parish priest to allow her to marry this 'foreigner' from America. In the end it was a letter from Lockheed Corporation, which saved the day. A quote from the letter said: "Insofar as we are able to establish, Mr. Matheny is a single man and of the Catholic faith. We have no objections to his becoming married while in the United Kingdom."
And so it was that the young man who first said, and still does to this day, at the age of 84, "she was the prettiest girl I ever saw and I just had to have her", married Rita McGarry.
When her new husband returned to the United States, she was unable to follow him until after D-Day. The 22 year old girl, who had never been out of Ireland, then crossed the Atlantic by boat and traveled the width of Canada and the length of the West coast of the U.S. by train to meet her new husband and his family in Los Angeles.
The journey's end was short-lived; within a few months they were living in Washington, D.C. Frank was newly enlisted in the Air Force and Rita worked as a proofreader for the British Embassy.
At the war's end, one year later, they were back living in Los Angeles; in 1946, Ellen, the first of their five children was born. By 1947 the young family was on a boat to Australia, where they would take advantage of that country's new colonization policy, which offered free passage to anyone willing to live there for two years. This was an arduous journey with the women housed at one end of the boat and the men at the other. During the voyage a small child died and was buried at sea. Despite the primitive accommodations of the long journey, Rita and Frank always spoke lovingly of the people and of the country and the adventures they experienced there.
By 1950 the family was back in the U.S. living in Manteca, California. There Frank built their first house and Rita had their second child, a son they named Garry (after her maiden name). In 1954 a third child, Michael, was born.
On Saint Patrick's Day 1955, Rita was sworn in as an American citizen, an occasion she was proud of all her life.
In 1956 Rita got her first driver's license; in 1957 her fourth child, Colleen, was born and she had her first auto accident with no injuries, except to her pride.
The following year with the economy in a slump the couple moved their family to a cabin Frank had built in South Lake Tahoe, California. The site was near Emerald Bay and eighteen miles from the nearest store. In this idyllic spot in the woods, the children flourished. It was here that the last of Rita and Frank's five children, Patrick, was born in 1960.
Ellen married in 1964 and two years later Frank took an overseas job building a runway in Vietnam. Left at home with four children and finances thin, Rita took real estate classes and acquired her license. Upon Frank's return in late 1966, the family moved to Lake Stevens, Washington, where their eldest son, Garry, joined the Sea Bees in the Navy.
With Frank now working for the county as a building supervisor and the last of the three children in school, the family purchased a home in Marysville, Washington, where Rita began to pursue her own career. She acquired her broker's license and became involved in local politics. A quote from Finesse magazine in a 1988 cover story summarizes Rita's next phase of life: "In the years that were to follow, this small-statured woman with the strong Irish brogue-and determination to match it-would make her mark in a big way." Her business career began with the opening of a real estate company in downtown Marysville. Not only did she sell property, she also helped implement-bringing companies such as Hewlett-Packard to the area. She joined the City Council, sat on the board of tourism and lent her energies to every city project she came in contact with and a few that she started herself, such as the old truck weighing station on Interstate five just North of Marysville. This she purchased and converted into the Tulalip Visitor Information Center. All this she accomplished by using her two strongest attributes: vision and the ability to organize. The center opened in time for the Washington State Expo in 1986 and was manned by a strong team of volunteers.
Noting Rita's ability to make things happen, Scoop Jackson selected her as a state representative to the Democratic National Convention. She traveled to the East coast to back Jimmy Carter's nomination for the presidency. Running for mayor of Marysville in 1988, Rita was elected and became the first woman mayor in the city. During her tenure she traveled with the heads of the Tulalip Indian tribe to Washington D.C. in an effort to build an overpass linking the reservation to Interstate five and thus opening a pathway to mutual growth between Marysville and the reservation. She continued working for the growth of these two communities for which she always had a warm spot in her heart.
Rita suffered a stroke in 1996 and died January 19, 2006. Four months short of her and Frank's sixty-first wedding anniversary.
She leaves behind her husband, Frank Matheny; five children, Ellen Tinker, RN, of Waldport, Oregon, Rev. Garry Matheny, of Transylvania Mountains, Romania, Michael Matheny, of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota, Colleen Kim, of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Patrick Matheny, of Marysville; 12 grandchildren; and, at present, five great-grandchildren.
A memeorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, February 3, at St. Mary's Church, 4200 88th Street N.E., Marysville. Following a memorial reception will be held at Baxter Senior Center, 5th and State Street.