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From EMSNetwork News Your best source for EMS News. we . search . so . you . don't . have . to http://www.emsnetwork.org/ Obits/Services As a teen, Mary Anderson would get behind the wheel of her old Rambler and challenge boys in her neighborhood to a race through the desert.
The former Redlands resident always ended up beating them, much to their chagrin.
From her years as a teen in Twentynine Palms to when she was a dispatcher for the Redlands Police Department and even when she battled a prolonged illness, the Mariposa resident was a feisty and independent woman who got things done, those who knew her recalled.
"She made things work more effectively in dispatch," said her husband, Warren Anderson, "and she thought of becoming an advocate for people with disabilities because she was frustrated with the way people in wheelchairs get treated," .
Mary Anderson died Jan. 29 at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno. She was 51.
She was born Oct. 30, 1955, in Santa Ana to Michael Polasky, a carpenter who was in the Air Force Reserve, and Maxine Polasky.
Her father worked at different construction sites, and the family moved from Orange to Fontana and then Twentynine Palms.
She found creative release working on oil paintings, some of which are still in her garage.
After graduating from Twentynine Palms High School in 1973, she worked as an emergency medical technician for Howard's Ambulance in Riverside. She toughed out some scary times on the job, including several near-accidents in the ambulance, before being hired in 1986 as a dispatcher for the Redlands Police Department, where she took on the responsibility of updating the department's file of business contacts to help improve police response time.
"She was a consummate professional who developed a training program and dispatch policy mostly on her own time," said Deputy Police Chief Clete Hyman. "It was always a comfort to know she was in dispatch."
For her efforts, Anderson received numerous awards, including the William C. Brumigan Employee of the Year award in 1996 and the Chief's Commendation in 1990.
Other accolades include the Captain's Commendation in 1992, recognition from the Redlands City Council in 1990 and an award from the Southern California Public Safety Radio Association for exceptional service to her community and department, also in 1990.
"Experience has taught Anderson that her ability to remain calm enables her to extract a lot more information from callers," a 1990 Redlands Daily Facts article about her said. "Also, a soothing tone of voice helps calm down the more panic-stricken callers."
Anderson also found romance at the police station with the man who would become her husband. Warren Anderson was a police officer who was hired the same year she was.
He asked her out on a date when she was off work following knee surgery and realized that she was "the one" while on training soon after.
He planned to propose to her on Valentine's Day 1988 but couldn't wait. Instead he asked her to marry him on a drive home from Solvang in January that year.
The couple were married in 1988. They settled in Redlands and had a son. She also volunteered at her son's school, Kingsbury Elementary.
In 1999, the family moved to Mariposa for the slower pace of life and cleaner air.
There, Anderson continued to work from home for the Redlands Police Department and also as a part-time teacher's aide for the Mariposa County Unified School District.
In 2003, she became paralyzed from the waist down and was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, a neurologic syndrome caused by inflammation of the spinal cord.
Anderson still made the best of it. She gardened and was ecstatic when she got a Ford Freestyle with hand controls, giving her freedom to go places.
In journals she kept near the end of her life, she wrote about becoming an advocate for people with disabilities because she was frustrated with the medical system and insurance companies.
She also wrote a letter to the superintendent of Yosemite National Park, a place she liked to visit, urging authorities to make it more wheelchair-friendly.
Some time after writing the letter, she noticed there was better access in the park.
Niece Jamie Martinez of Yucaipa remembers that her aunt always had compassion for both people and the stray dogs she adopted.
"She was the one who was always there, offering a shoulder to cry on," she said.
Now Martinez and other family members are comforted by the belief Anderson is in a better place where she can walk again.
She is also survived by son Warren Michael Frederick Anderson of Mariposa; sisters Michelle Ballain of Palm Springs and Lisa Gomez of Los Angeles; and brother John Polasky of Los Angeles.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Sierra Pines Church on Highway 49 in Oakhurst.
The family requests donations be made to the Mary K. Anderson Memorial Fund at Wells Fargo Bank, 40044 Highway 49, Oakhurst, Account No. 1762411484.
The money will be donated to the Transverse Myelitis Association and to the Bootjack Volunteer Fire Department, both of which were helpful to Anderson, said her husband, Warren Anderson |