"Last year, it took about 12 minutes for us to raise almost $100,000," said Neumayr, "because her gift was such an inspiration to parents."
Rasmuson was also a strong supporter of Catholic Social Services. Susan Bomalaski, executive director of that agency, said Rasmuson "had a special place in her heart for our homeless guests at Brother Francis Shelter."
As a board member of the Rasmuson Foundation, and through her own private donations, "Mary Louise Rasmuson supported the programs of Catholic Social Services and demonstrated great compassion for the poor," Bomalaski said.
Until very recently, Rasmuson faithfully attended CSS' Charity Ball, the agency's premier social fund-raising event.
Alaskan Legend
Rasmuson's story has been told in numerous media reports, becoming something of an Alaskan pioneer legend. A Pennsylvania native, the daughter of an Irish-American father and a French immigrant mother, the young Mary Louise Milligan first studied education and considered venturing into law.
But World War II set her on a different path. She once told the Catholic Anchor that she "saw no reason why men should be required to serve while women had no obligation to do so." She was among 440 women chosen out of 30,000 applications for the first Officer Candidate School for the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. What followed was a meteoric rise through the ranks.
During the war, she served as an adviser to the U.S. commander-in-chief of the Army European Command and experienced London in the middle of the German air war. By 1957 she was director of the Corps and knew personally some of the leading figures of the day, including Dwight Eisenhower and later President John F. Kennedy who appointed her to her second term as director.
But then, at age 50, Rasmuson's life took a distinct turn. In 1961 she married Elmer Rasmuson, a widower who was a leader in Alaskan financial and political circles. She retired from the Corps in 1962, but, always the pioneer, she first helped craft regulations at the Pentagon that gave women greater opportunities for assignments within the military.
Rasmuson seemed to easily make the transition from an office at the Pentagon to a stately home in Anchorage's Turnagain neighborhood. She served as Anchorage's first lady when Elmer was mayor after the 1964 earthquake, and until Elmer's death in 2000, she served with him in numerous civic ventures, including the founding of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. She continued to be active with the Rasmuson Foundation.
Archbishop Schwietz became a personal friend, and he valued the association.
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"I found her to be kind and gentle - a grand lady - but also someone who was decisive and capable. I will miss her now that the Lord has called her home, but I'm grateful for the conversations I had with her," he said, adding, "May we follow her good example."
A funeral Mass for Mary Louise Rasmuson will be held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on Sept. 10, at 2 p.m.
Archbishop Schwietz will celebrate the Mass. Anchorage Archbishop Emeritus Francis Hurley is scheduled to give a blessing.
Posted with permission from Catholic Anchor, official newspaper for the Archdiocese of Anchorage.