Tireless Volunteer Helped Charities and Presidents

Mary Torbik, 84, an indefatigable volunteer who rolled bandages for the American Red Cross during World War II, handled correspondence for three presidential administrations and spent five summers in Poland teaching English and volunteerism, died March 16 of a brain tumor at Ingleside at Rock Creek's long-term care unit in Washington.

Inspired by President George H.W. Bush's call for national volunteerism in his "thousand points of light" speech, Mrs. Torbik began volunteering at the White House in 1989. She sent out announcements and greeting cards from the president and stayed on, by invitation, during the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The job in the Executive Office of the President was a long-held dream, but it was by no means her first or last foray into charitable work. The mother of eight packed a lengthy résumé's worth of unpaid, but not unappreciated, labor into her life.

She also owned and operated a direct-mail business from her home in the days when that meant typing address labels one at a time. At the same time, she believed in maintaining a household that was always "ready for the pope's visit."

Born in Parkston, S.D., Mary Phyllis Singer worked for the Internal Revenue Service in Aberdeen, S.D., before moving to Washington in 1944 to work for the Civil Service Commission. At night, she attended George Washington University and volunteered at the Red Cross. After World War II, she volunteered with CARE, sending packages to war refugees.

Married in 1951, she became a member of the Sodality at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church in Bethesda, where she directed the annual rummage sale. She volunteered with Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, was president of the mothers' guild at Cathedral Latin and Holy Trinity high schools in Washington, and frequently staffed school Christmas shops. She regularly visited the women's prison in Jessup, taking toiletries donated by stores.

Mrs. Torbik indoctrinated her children in her ways, teaching them to create mini-Easter bonnets from foam cups for hospital and nursing home meal trays. When her direct-marketing business demanded sending carpet samples to newly engaged women, the children learned to stuff the tiny rugs into cardboard tubes and crimp the ends, then slap address labels on them.

"If making it seem like fun didn't work, then guilt did," said her daughter Susan C. Torbik of Aspen Hill.

The children knitted scarves and hats, wangled donations from their employers and drove Mrs. Torbik to deliver leftovers to people living on the street.

"Quick, while the food is still hot!" she would say, as she hopped out of the car to hand over the meals and apologize because she had no utensils or a cup of coffee. She never mastered the skills it took to drive a car, her daughters said, despite several attempts; after going the wrong way around Washington Circle in rush-hour traffic, she surrendered the wheel to her husband and children.

Mrs. Torbik and her husband of 40 years, Bernard Andrew Torbik, also cooked and served meals for the homeless at the charity So Others Might Eat. The couple enjoyed travel, but even while on vacation in Hawaii, they didn't neglect volunteering, helping serve meals for the indigent at a church.

After her husband died in 1991, Mrs. Torbik resumed volunteering with the Red Cross, this time at Suburban Hospital and the National Institutes of Health. CARE gave her an award in 1995 for her 40 years of volunteerism for the organization, but Mrs. Torbik was not finished contributing to worthy causes.

In 1995, after completing Red Cross disaster relief training, she was sent to the Virgin Islands after it was struck by hurricanes Luis and Marilyn. She celebrated her 70th birthday, which she confided to fellow volunteers was her happiest celebration ever, while passing out tarps.

Later that year, Mrs. Torbik volunteered at a children's English language camp in Mietnem, Poland, with Global Volunteers, using an Amtrak timetable to take the children on "trips" to visit and learn about American cities. In 1996, she worked as an English tutor at a seminary in Stadniki, Poland, and she returned for four subsequent years. She also volunteered in the village school and enlisted her children to help her pack and ship books and religious items to schools and churches in Moldova.

She moved to the senior citizens' residence Ingleside at Rock Creek in December 2006 and volunteered on the house council and library.

In addition to her daughter Susan, survivors include seven other children, Bernard Alan Torbik of Huntington Beach, Calif., Mary Margaret Brisson of Galway, N.Y., Sister Martha Ann Torbik, a Catholic nun in Millvale, Pa., John Joseph Torbik of Fort Worth, Therese Rose Roberts of Charlotte, Kathleen Marie Price of Dallas and Matthew Thomas Torbik of Frederick; and 14 grandchildren.