Jodie Lynn Mansfield often would ride her Suzuki SV 1000 to the Voices for Children office in Boulder, where she was the administrative assistant for the last year and a half of her life.

"She brought sunshine into the office every day," said Marsha -Caplan, executive director of the nonprofit group that serves children who have been neglected and abused.

"She was very creative, very skillful and told me innumerable times how much she loved her job," Caplan said.

Even with a simple task, such as designing invitations, Mrs. Mansfield would put her own touch on the project, perhaps by combining little pieces of ribbon with her wizardry with computer software.

Mrs. Mansfield, 44, died on March 6 after a bout with melanoma that had appeared to have gone into remission years before.

During her nine years in Colorado, she competed in triathlons, went on motorcycle trips with her husband, Bill Mansfield, and went scuba diving off the coast of Venezuela.

She also volunteered with the Mountain View Fire Protection District for a time, although she found that she had problems witnessing the suffering of people who were hurt by a blaze or involved in a bad traffic accident.

"She never said no to any opportunity," her husband said. "She even tried to get me to jump out of an airplane."

The two met on New Year's Eve in 1997 at a Sonia Dada concert at the Fox Theatre in Boulder.

"We just bounced into each other," said Bill Mansfield, an electrical engineer who also was a volunteer firefighter at Mountain View for years.

She hoped to get a job in Colorado. The first attempt failed, but Mansfield suggested she move out here and "hang out with me," without a job.

The two were married on July 4, 2001, on Flagstaff Mountain. She reveled at being a stepmom to 13-year-old Hillary, Bill Mansfield's daughter.

Mrs. Mansfield, who was adventurous and athletic, quickly found work, including a stint working for the organizers of the Bolder Boulder 10K race.

The Michigan State University graduate competed in a number of triathlons and was training for the Danskin Triathlon even after her melanoma returned.

She was first diagnosed with melanoma in 1998.

"I found the lesion on the back," Bill Mansfield said. After the first bout of treatment, they were hopeful that she had recovered after she was cancer-free for five years.

But in November, a CAT scan revealed it had come back and metastasized, already having invaded her liver and lungs.

"At that stage, it is virtually unstoppable," he said.

She also is survived by her mother and stepfather, Sue and Wayne Templer, of Texas; her father, Mark Gietzel, of Lansing, Mich.; a brother, Brian, of Potterville, Mich.; and a sister Beth Cruz, of Avon Lake, Ohio.

Bill Mansfield plans to hold "very private" memorial services later this year on Flagstaff Mountain and in Michigan.

Contributions in Mrs. Mansfield's name can be made to Voices for Children, 2305 Canyon Blvd., No. 101, Boulder, CO 80302.

"That was where she worked, and that was her charity," Bill said.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207