Former state lawmaker remembered for helping people

jackson@sanduskyregister.comSANDUSKYA Vermilion woman who served six terms in the Ohio House of Representatives has died.Ivalee "Marie" Law Tansey, 86, who died Thursday after a long illness, was no stranger to public service. Aside from her political career, she was active in groups such as Friends of Harbortown and the Farm Bureau.But many Erie County residents may remember her as a Republican state representative from Vermilion who represented Erie County in the Ohio House. Tansey served six terms, from 1977 to 1988, serving on many different committees.Politicians sometimes have a bad reputation, but Rick Tansey, 62, Avon Lake, one of her three sons, said he admired his mother's character."I think my Mom was one of the most honest people I've ever known," Rick Tansey said.In an article about Tansey in the Dec. 18, 1988, Sandusky Register, as she was preparing to retire, Tansey pointed to accomplishments such as writing a bill to make victims of drunken driving eligible for compensation, and working on the Huron bypass.She told staffer Don Lee that lawmakers should not "over-legislate" and indicated that she had a conservative political philosophy."I would rather help a dozen constituents with their problems than impose a law that is restrictive or finally detrimental to people," she said.Rick Tansey said that his mother concentrated on helping people."There were people, for example, their son or daughter might have gone to prison, they were down in Cincinnati and they wanted to move them closer to home so the parents could go see them. Mom did a lot of that type of stuff," he said. "It made me real proud of her."Her husband, Charles "Chuck" Tansey, was the postmaster in Vermilion, and Tansey told Lee that she planned to travel with her husband, read and write after leaving office. Chuck Tansey died in 1992.According to the official biography released by Riddle Funeral Home, Tansey enjoyed traveling all over the world but also liked to fish for perch and go waterskiing in Lake Erie. When she spoke to Lee, she mentioned that she and her husband already had traveled to Hong Kong and Taiwan — on her own dime, not at taxpayer expense, she said.She also went to mainland China, New Zealand, Korea and places in Europe such as Paris, Rick Tansey said. She still traveled even after her husband died, and pursued life with a sense of adventure and a willingness to push things to the limit, he said."I think the best way to describe Mom was she was a woman's libber before it was cool to be a woman's libber," he said. "She was a hell of a water skier."Tansey is survived by three sons: Rick Tansey and also Mark Tansey of Houston, Texas, and Dennis Tansey of Gepp, Ariz.; by a sister, Louise Davies of St. Louis, and by children and grandchildren.The family will receive friends from 3-8 p.m. Wednesday at Riddle Funeral Home, 5345 South St. in Vermilion, with services set for 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Riddle Funeral Home.Marie Tansey in her days as a state representative. Marie Tansey