Elk says goodbye to its ‘Lady Mayor’
Our Lady Mayor passes
Last Wednesday, April 7, Elk lost one of its most beloved residents, Prue Wilcox, who passed away at age 91. Norman de Vall realized something was amiss when Prue didn’t answer his knocking on her front door.
“I stopped by for a visit and then called Charlie and 911. I noted that she had completed the daily crossword puzzle in the Press Democrat,” de Vall said. “She was a wonderful friend and neighbor.”
Prue was a regular reader of this column and especially enjoyed the collective columns written by everyone around a particular question. So, in that fashion, here are some of our favorite “Prusie” (as my grandmother affectionately called her) memories:
Yarrow Ruben writes: “While it’s not possible to describe Prue’s all-encompassing wonderfulness in one vignette …the joy she brought with her Mardi Gras celebration shines brightly in my heart.”
Susan Levenson-Palmer remembers a particular Civic Club centennial committee meeting: “I was trying to lead us through our agenda in an hour or less,
Prue started telling another one of her stories. Even though I was feeling impatient, I for one would never interrupt our dear revered Prue. As she was telling this particular story, my impatience evaporated as I looked around the table at all of these women hanging onto every one of her words until the punch line when laughter filled that room. I realized all of our efforts were secondary to the merriment that Prue brought to these meetings.”
Lorraine Toth, who attended Kathy MacDonald’s chair yoga with Prue at the Greenwood School, remembers, “Prue was a regular, and we all delighted in her regaling us with local events. Never gossipy or mean. Just told with humor and so much love for humanity.”
Cathleen Micheael’s many favorite memories of Prue include: “The dinners Kevin and I would bring to share first with both Prue and Lea at Lea’s childhood Hospital House home and then just with Prue and the stories they both would tell about their long and remarkable lives. I particularly loved Prue’s lively accounts of her early introductions to the counter-culture/back-to-thelanders here in Elk and how her entire face would
light up with mischief and delight when she was recounting some wild event or encounter which likely involved someone naked on the beach (or in her backyard) or giving birth in the middle of a community meeting!”
Fittingly, Anica Williams writes, “Oh, my goodness. I just played the five-minute version of Prue’s interview for the “Back-to-the-Land” Project on KZYX. While I’ve heard all the stories, it made me laugh anyway — until I cried. What a treat having Prue next to me again.” (This interview, by the way, can be found on the KZYX website in the archives under, “Promise of Paradise”.)
One of Prue’s many hats over the years was the head docent at the Greenwood State Parks Visitor Center & Museum when all the docents were still volunteers, and for this, she was awarded the State Park’s Golden Poppy Award for 25 years of dedication and commitment to the museum. Elaine Hamby, one of the docents says, “One of my favorite pictures of Prue is of her at the docent’s desk in the museum, as we worked on the monthly bookkeeping. We divided the tasks, and her beautiful handwriting filled in the reports. With her, something tedious became something fun. I was blessed by her, whether she realized it or not.”
Galer Barnes also remembers Prue’s kindness as a docent: “When I moved to Elk in 1998, I volunteered at the little museum. Very often, Prue was my partner. She welcomed me with such open charm and made me feel at ease. She had a clear and present philosophy of loving people and life that was contagious to all who met her. Whenever I would see her, she would always ask after my writing and genuinely wished me well.”
Belvie Rooks writes, “Prue has been my heartmate from the very beginning of my Elk sojourn in 1983. The clincher for me was probably when she laughingly told me when we met that, ‘I was raised to be a Southern Belle but it didn’t stick!’
Elk had been recommended by my friend Alice Walker. Alice had won the Pulitzer Prize and had been dreaming of starting a small press, Wild Trees Press (in Anderson Valley) in the tradition of Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press. Anderson Valley didn’t call me deeply so she brought me to the coast to see this small town that she was sure would! It did! I immediately resigned from Mother Jones magazine and moved to Elk to help start the press and Prue became My Biggest Love!”
Lori Kaye’s Prue story started with a panicked phone call: “One morning, Prue called saying that swallows had started to make a nest above her front door. They were dive-bombing her and she asked if I would come right away and take care of these intruders. Of course, I said yes. When I arrived at Prue’s, sure enough, there she was, standing on her porch, trying to water her beloved Star Pine plant with the swallows all around her, swooping and hitting the top of her head and her arms. I couldn’t help but think of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds. So, I said to her, ‘Geez Prue! One minute you’re Prue Wilcox, and the next you’re Tippi Hendren!’ We both laughed so hard!”
Queenie called Prue, “A big-hearted bubblicious woman who we are all so heartbroken to lose.”
Margo Hillman recounted her first memory of Prue was receiving a handwritten letter from her: “I believe it was in the style of the Palmer method. The letter was an example of perfectly formed letters and I still have the letter! Prue will always be one of the grandest ladies on my list: our Ms. Lady Mayor!”
Indeed, we have lost our village storyteller and one of our most revered elders. As Tawny MacMillan said, “Prue IS the story,” and aren’t we lucky to have had her with us and to have her story live on in us. While there is no immediate memorial planned, Prue’s family is considering the possibility of a memorial in late July around Prue’s birthday.
Our deepest condolences go out to the Wilcox family — our hearts ache with yours.