Pat Mummey Left Us With A Legacy

Wed., Aug. 21, 1996

Anne Windishar/For The Editorial

Perhaps the most telling detail of Pat Mummey’s life was the years she worked for pediatric oncologist Frank Reynolds. As a nurse who tended to and comforted children with cancer, Mummey was struck with a very true and clear picture of what matters in life.

She spent the rest of her days making sure other people understood that as well.

Pat Mummey died Monday, but her legacy of eight years as a Spokane County commissioner will linger for decades to come. She fought for clean air and water, for proper disposal of waste, for affordable and efficient public transportation. She stood above partisan politics, choosing principle over party, teamwork over territorialism.

In short, Mummey worked tirelessly to make Spokane County a better place for adults and children alike. And she did it in her characteristically gruff way.

Mummey was well-known for her sometimes abrupt approach. Her supporters say she was short with people because she had little patience for wasting time. That bluntness occasionally worked against her, but it usually worked for her constituents.

Mummey was an uncommonly effective leader - whether you agreed with her positions or not. The physical proof of Mummey’s dedication is all around us - the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza, the Valley bus center, the waste-to-energy plant and more. She proposed curtailing grass-field burning in 1989, six years before the state ordered industry to cut the smoke. She worked for longer prison sentences for violent and predatory sex offenders, yet asked for better treatment of offenders and their victims. She ran for county coroner even as she slowly was dying from cancer herself.

Pat Mummey believed in the system - with all its flaws and defects. She still wanted a hand in making things better.

For Mummey, that meant casting aside unwritten grudges and working with other people, agencies and governing boards for the good of the county. Current politicians could learn a lesson from Mummey’s willingness to reach out and ask for help. They should realize, as she did, that we all breathe the same air, drink the same water and want the same high quality of life - regardless of our ZIP code.

Services for Pat Mummey will be at 2 p.m. today at Central United Methodist Church, Third and Howard.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board

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