Katherine McManus focuses on volunteerism following sister’s murder

A little more than a year ago, Victoria McManus, the eldest of three McManus sisters, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in the Chicago apartment they had shared. At the time of her eldest sister’s death, Katherine McManus was firmly entrenched in helping others, including the likes of 7-year-old Bobby Russell, a young pal in South Bend, Ind., recovering from lymphoma. But Victoria’s death refortified Katherine’s volunteer efforts, and in turn she discovered a deeper value of giving, realizing upon returning to Notre Dame last summer that Bobby was helping her at least as much as she was helping him.

“Helping people really helped my mourning process, helped me heal,’’ said McManus, recalling how eager she was to catch up with Bobby for ice cream and mental respite once back on campus last summer. “He was such a little kid about it, so frank. He said, ‘I know your sister died, and I want to say I am sorry and I am just really happy we can still hang out.’ He was just so matter of fact. It was perfect.

“Helping other people, I have always loved doing it, but now I have found such a greater meaning in it.’’

Last month, a year after her sister’s murder, McManus was named winner of the national Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award. Love, who played lacrosse at the University of Virginia, was killed by her ex-boyfriend, also then a Virginia lacrosse player, in May 2010, a gruesome story that received extensive national media attention.

The award in Love’s name recognizes the accomplishments of student-athletes who demonstrate dedication, integrity, humility, hard work, community service, leadership, kindness, and sportsmanship — all qualities Love exemplified throughout her life. Todd Stewart, who plays lacrosse at Brown, was this year’s male winner of the Unsung Hero Award.

In 2010, the year Love was slain, McManus was a student at Thayer and recalls being on the field for a game at Brooks, where a moment of silent meditation was observed in Love’s memory.

“At that moment I knew how sad and how deep and important that story was,’’ said McManus, a psychology major and a defender on the lacrosse team. “But I didn’t know how important it was until five years later when how really relevant it would be in my life.’’

Victoria McManus, 26 at the time of her death, likewise had ended her relationship with her boyfriend. Daniel Kralik, then 31, was soon to move out of the apartment he shared with McManus in Chicago’s Humboldt Park area. But a fight broke out between the two, and at approximately 12:50 a.m. on May 15, 2014, police arrived to find McManus dead inside the apartment and arrested Kralik at the scene. Per media reports, Kralik summoned police there with a 911 call, stating he strangled McManus.

“She was just really brilliant, the smartest person I ever met,’’ said Katherine McManus, recalling her late sister. “She was so sweet . . . she could choose to be in solitude and think, or be outgoing and bubbly and funny and witty in the way she can be. She had a nice balance of both of those things.’’

According to the McManus girls’ mother, Ann Beach, Kralik remains in jail awaiting trial for Victoria’s murder. Beach said the family, including her husband Peter McManus and their surviving children, Katherine and Caroline, chose soon after Victoria’s death not to invest time discussing her assailant or his court proceedings.

“I feel very blessed in that I did not respond with anger over her murder,” said Beach, an ex-attorney who in more recent years worked full time for the Jimmy Fund. “I responded only with sorrow. I just think he is a very tortured soul and I don’t think killing Victoria helped him in any way. I don’t need to know more.’’

Speaking at his daughter’s funeral, Peter McManus inducted all attendees into FOV — Friends of Victoria. Now Beach is finalizing plans to start a nonprofit “FOV’’ — Finding One’s Voice — aimed at helping children discover their writing and artistic talents. Victoria was a creative soul and a self-taught artist.

“I am convinced,’’ said Beach, “that a burst of positive energy was released into the universe when Victoria was killed.’’

Katherine McManus certainly embodies that energy. Upon her return to South Bend, she will begin her tenure as president of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), acting as the point person for Notre Dame’s 750 student-athletes and their community volunteer efforts. Her vice president: wide receiver Corey Robinson, son of former NBA great David “The Admiral’’ Robinson. McManus beat Robinson in SAAC’s presidential election.

“I knew she was going to beat me, so I was totally cool,’’ said a gregarious Robinson, reached by telephone at Notre Dame. “The amount of things she has done, and continues to do, are just unbelievable, and she is such a good leader. She loves to inspire people.’’

While acknowledging that some fellow Notre Dame students might have thought “the football factor’’ could have given him an edge in the presidential election, Robinson said he knew he didn’t stand a chance against McManus.

“You’d look at all she does and it’s, ‘Dang, how in the world does she do all this?’ ’’ said Robinson, chuckling over his defeat at the hands of the 5-foot-6-inch dynamo that is McManus. “I mean, not only do it all, but do it successfully. With enthusiasm and infectious energy. Yeah, I thought, ‘Well, this is a battle for second place, pretty much.’ ’’

Robinson and McManus collaborated on several SAAC initiatives last year, including Habitats for Humanity, in which hundreds of students built a house near campus. They also worked side by side on “It’s On Us,” the campaign to help deter on-campus domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Claire VeNard, a 2007 Notre Dame grad and the school’s director of student welfare and development, said she marvels at McManus’s combined efforts in the classroom, on the lacrosse team, and her ever-growing volunteer service.

“She is amazing,’’ said VeNard. “She is one of those people you talk to and you’re like, ‘Are you sure you are in college, because I knew no one like you when I attended?’ ’’ For all she does at the school, added VeNard, “Katherine is at a level that is completely her own.’’

Robert Russell, a car salesman near South Bend, met McManus a couple of years into his young son Bobby’s treatment for non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma. Bobby, out of treatment and thriving today, was paired with Katherine and the women’s lacrosse team as part of the school’s Fighting Irish Fight For Life (FIFFL) program, in which area children with pediatric illnesses are adopted by school teams, joining them for practices, games, and social events.

Right from the start, recalled Russell, McManus and his son formed a bond that last week had the senior Russell often overcome by emotion as he talked about it. Whenever Bobby attended games or practices, McManus went out of her way to engage him. If he had the energy, which he often did when seeing Katherine, Bobby would race around the outdoor fields, with his “girlfriend’’ Katherine at his side. During Bobby’s hospital stays, which often lasted a week or more, Katherine visited to play Candy Land, or just talk, hang out, be a constant companion.

“We’ve kind of had to steer him away from calling Katherine his girlfriend,’’ said Russell, laughing. “It’s turned into this great sister-brother thing they have going. When she’s away, we’ll be out doing something, and he’ll tell me to take a picture on my phone and send it to Katherine — right now! Or he’ll ask to call her and she always takes the call. She’s the real deal.’’

“She’s awesome!’’ said Bobby Russell, talking by cellphone while enjoying dinner at a fast food restaurant near Osceola, Ind. “She always has awesome stuff to do and she taught me lacrosse.’’

McManus will be back in South Bend in a few weeks. Bobby Russell will be headed off to second grade. Their lives, both in different stages of recovery and growth, remain intertwined.

“I love service just because I love service,’’ said McManus, noting her appreciation of the Reynolds Love Award, though somewhat uncomfortable with the attention. “Truthfully, I don’t do service for awards and acknowledgment. I’ve had to learn to be better about the acknowledgment of it. I prefer to be quiet about it, do it on my own, not really want the limelight for it.’’

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.