Kathleen Frances “Kay” Mankin died at Fairhaven Adult Family Home, Oak Harbor, on June 21, 2007 at the age of 86, following a lengthy illness. She was born in Everett on May 27, 1921 to John M and Helen (Nowak) Finn.
Kay was one of four children in the Finn family. She was raised in Seattle in the Queen Anne area and attended Queen Anne High School. She was very active in school, serving in leadership roles as class vice president and also as treasurer and also received her athletic letter. Her high school classmates knew her as “Tots.”
Following graduation, Kay attended Seattle University. Seattle University was unable to provide her with teaching credentials, so Kay transferred to Bellingham Normal School (now known as Western Washington University), where she received her bachelor’s degree in education and her kindergarten through high school teaching endorsement. She then began teaching in the Seattle area.
Kay was married to Lee Paul Mankin in Norfolk, Va., on March 20, 1944. She put her teaching career on hold and followed her husband as a Navy wife and also a mother of five. The Navy moved the Mankin family to Norfolk, Va., Corpus Christi, Texas, Palo Alto, Monterey and Alameda, Calif., and Seattle. Paul retired from the Navy in 1958 in Alameda.
In 1962, the Mankin family moved to Seattle and Kay worked for a brief time at Pier 91, before returning to the classroom as a teacher. She was also very active in her children’s activities, serving as a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader. She was involved with PTA and various women’s clubs.
Kay and Paul left Seattle and moved to Westport, where Paul operated a fishing charter boat for eight years. Kay loved to visit the beaches and collect shells and agates and loved to fish. Kay taught school during that time. In 1981, Oak Harbor became their home.
Paul and Kay purchased a powerboat and for several years, they traveled to Canada and Alaska with many of their fellow boaters from Oak Harbor. They eventually sold their boat and purchased a motor home. Indio, Calif., became their winter destination, first in their motor home and than in a Park Model.
Kay was very social. She loved to entertain and play bridge. She was always very positive and saw the good in everything and everyone. She loved her family more than anything else.
Kay was very active at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church until her health began to fail three years ago.
Kay is survived by her husband Paul of 63 years, at the family home, Oak Harbor; and by five children and their spouses, Lee Paul Mankin III and Vicki of Medford, Ore., Barbara Kay and Floyd Persson of Ellensburg, Donald D. and Y. Lee Mankin of San Francisco, Jim M. Mankin of Westport, and Tressie A. and Jerry Oylear of Snohomish.
Six grandchildren, Lee Paul Mankin IV, Cari Kuehny, Cristy Watkins, Michael Watkins, Joseph Mankin and Julia Oylear, and nine great grandchildren also survive.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Augustine’s on June 29 with Rev. Robert Rimes, SJ, as Celebrant. Private family inurnment will follow at Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, Wash. Arrangements are entrusted to Burley Funeral Chapel, Oak Harbor.
