On Friday, we learned that Vickie Houk had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. As one of the founders of the View from Peaks Knob, her writing, incisive commentary, and unflinching willingness to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable will be missed. But we know that her legacy extends far beyond this blog and the town of Pulaski. Vickie will be missed by people and communities far and near.
With all of this in mind, we would like to create a written tribute to Vickie, but since we only knew her for a short time and only in a limited capacity as neighbors and co-bloggers, we need your help. While many have already shared beautiful tributes to Vickie over Facebook, we see value in pulling them all together in one place so that Vickie’s friends and family can see them all together in one place.
So please consider sharing your memories, stories, reflections, photography, or any other written/visual tributes to Vickie with us in the comments here or by email at ten.bonkskaepnull@ofni. If you would prefer to be interviewed about your memories, let us know that, too. Let us know how and when you knew Vickie when you share your stories. And please help us to spread the call for tributes to others who may not see this request.
Vickie Houk and I came to Pulaski within a year of each other - I was called to serve Trinity Lutheran Church in 1995 and Vickie was called to serve Christ Episcopal in 1996. We hit it off right away - after all, we 5 ft. tall female clergy have to stick together! (Just kidding!) We both enjoyed warm welcomes from our beloved Pulaski community and our congregations. Vickie served Christ church until her retirement a few years ago. Our congregations have always maintained a close sense of togetherness due to our proximity to each other and our shared church culture. We occasionally did some continuing education together, and we never failed to "talk shop" whenever we were together. I had so much to learn from her! Vickie indeed had the gift of comforting the afflicted and afflicting (lovingly) the comfortable because she had a definite sense of God's love for all of humanity and creation and God's unfailing desire to see all people thrive without partiality and distinction. Vickie found her "true north" in serving others, lifting up the lowly, and seeing the good in people who others might overlook. She was appreciative of our earth and kind to it in return. She enjoyed her life with her precious cats - as a fellow single person with pets, we surely shared a love for and dependence on the company of our furry friends for our home lives. Instead of talking about our kids, we would swap animal stories that amused us both! Over the years, Vickie and I did some cool ministries together - volunteer chaplaincy at Pulaski Community Hospital, participation in the Pulaski Ministerial Association, Friends of Peak Creek (she as board member and I as a volunteer/supporter), and most recently serving on the Pulaski County Dept. of Social Services Board together. We also got to work together as Election Board workers at the Central Absentee Precinct where, as Chief, I got to tell her to use her "inside voice" and though she protested that she "wasn't being loud," she courteously tried to obey my "orders!" She was the Assistant Chief, so I impishly enjoyed giving her instructions! But seriously, Vickie was such a capable and enjoyable co-worker on the election board and come November I will miss her great leadership, her laughter, and her sort of loudness immensely. Vickie had such a marvelous sense of humor which, coupled with her amazing wealth of knowledge and wisdom, made her a real jewel of a human being. Not only was she smart and perky and funny, but she had a true gift of appreciating the good in others and being supportive of the people who work hard in our community. As a member of the Dept. of Social Services board she entreated the rest of the board members to put together a luncheon to show our appreciation for all the employees at PC DSS. So this summer we put together an awesome barbecue lunch for our wonderful social workers, held at her church home at Christ Episcopal. She set for me a strong example in this simple act of considering the gifts of those around us and offering a very heartfelt "thank you" for their labors in service to others. With Vickie's stalwart desire for justice and goodness to take root in her hometown, I'm not at all surprised that she was part of The View from Peak's Knob. I appreciate this blog for what I learn from its bloggers about their commitment to working for the good of our community in their own particular ways. That Vickie was part of this group makes perfect sense! She never retired from caring about her community. Vickie will forever live in my heart, with her infectious, easy laugh ringing in my ears. I hope her exuberant ways will continue to prompt me to live big, just as she did. I'll miss having easy access to her wisdom and book reviews and outlook on current events. She'd probably just tell me: "well go ahead and get on with it yourself!" Ok. I will - with you on my shoulder! Thank you, Vickie for everything. See you in due time, my friend.
Thank you, Terri!