When the West Seattle Eagles Auxiliary Madame President, Linda Crank, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday Dec. 12 it hit the Aerie very hard. The Eagle's motto is "People helping people" and Linda, whose association with the organization goes back more than three decades, played a very important part.

The Eagles is an international organization, more than 100 years old, whose mission is "to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills, and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope."

While that may sound broad, the charity work they do is both highly focused and wide ranging. Crank in her four years with the West Seattle auxiliary accomplished a lot by helping with almost every Eagles effort. Just a short list of what they do provides some insight into what kind of organization it is and why Linda Crank will be missed by its members and the rest of West Seattle.

They support the Make-A-Wish Foundation, raising $4600 last year (with more than $100,000 in their history. The Stan Murray Kidney Foundation (Crank was the State Chairperson), the Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa (for which the whole organization has raised more than $15 million), Pope's Kids Place in Centralia (providing respite care for medically fragile children, and runs a pediatric clinic for all kids under age 21), Cancer research and The Hutch School (part of The Fred Hutchison Cancer Research center in Seattle, Park West to help senior citizens raising money around Christmas for items they need. The West Seattle Eagles also support the West Seattle Food Bank and local schools.

The West Seattle Herald asked a few of her fellow Eagles to speak about Linda Crank:

Mary Lou Wilkerson said, "She was like a real sister to me. She was just like my sister that had passed away. People thought we were sisters in real life. She treated everybody the same and she loved her charities."

Jennifer Young said, "Linda was the one person that if I needed something she was always there. She was always here to support anything we were doing." Young will fulfill Crank's duties for the remainder of her term. " They are really big shoes to fill. I'm going to do the best I can in her memory (...) Right now I'm trying to be strong for my sisters."

"She supported other clubs," said Linda Fittro, "she was dual officer at another club, she was District Secretary and she just did an awesome job. She truly cared about how you were feeling and what was going on in your life. She did everything. It's going to be really, really hard without her."

Amy McGrath explained, "Linda was an exemplary person, sister, friend. She just was wonderful. I'm a negative person and there's not one negative thing I could ever say about her. She was everyone's friend, she was everyone's confidant. She was just loved. She made coming to meetings and being involved fun. I was a member of this auxiliary since I was 21, but I was never an officer until she asked me to step up and for her I did. She was an integral part of our club, as well as the district and the state. She was an exemplary Eagle."

She was almost like a mother figure, "said Worthy President Dan White"and we leaned on her a lot. She served as our auditor and she did all our books and kept them in line. She was amazing with numbers. She was an integral part of our order and will be dearly missed. When I heard the news I didn't know how to process it. It's been a blow. It's the second loss of a member this year. We lost Jim Huslander earlier this year. The wound is still fresh so this is bringing us all to our knees."

Carl Young said, "Linda Crank was the person who exemplified what it meant to be an Eagle. What we stand for as a group and what people should stand for in their personal life every day. A lot of people think of the Eagles as a place to come and drink and have a good time but we are about our charities and she was the person who stood up and did it. She had fun like the rest of us but she helped with other's charities, made sure we had what we needed. She thought about everybody else first."

Cheryl Wilson, Eagles Bar Manager said, "She was one hell of a lady and always had a smile on her face. Always polite. I never heard her say a bad word about anybody, anytime. Even when she was mad and frustrated, she bit her tongue. She's going to be greatly missed."

The West Seattle Eagles has seen an influx of younger people in recent years and members asked agreed it was largely due to two things; The West Seattle Community and the welcoming attitude of the members. Young said, "The atmosphere is about everybody together. We have fun and the age doesn't matter. We enjoy each other's company and have great conversations."

Joining the Eagles is inexpensive and easy (though you must be proposed by two members). The Aerie #2643 is located at 4426 California Ave s.w., Seattle, WA