Lucille Elizabeth Poore Pruitt, 88, passed away at Wynwood Brookdale Senior Living in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, where she lived the last three years of her life. 'Lucy' suffered from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease for most of the last decade.
Lucille was born the first child of Anna Paulson Poore and Robert Benjamin (Ben) Poore on Nov. 21, 1922, near Peck in northern Idaho. She was joined by her brother, Robert Thomas (Tommy) six years later. Her parents farmed and co-owned a bar/pool hall/restaurant in Craigmont, Idaho, in her preschool years. Her father also worked for Union Pacific Railroad.
In or around 1929, the family moved to McClennan in northern Alberta, Canada, with the promise of "free homestead land." "Proving-up" on the scrubland was much more difficult than anticipated, and her father took a job with the Canadian Northern Railway. Lucille was schooled in a one-room schoolhouse in McClennan. When she was about 7 years old, a neighbor taught her her lifetime hobby and passion for knitting. When she was 15, her father's deteriorating health prompted the family to return to Lewiston, Idaho. Her father died en route, but Anna and the children remained in Lewiston where Lucille and Tommy were enrolled in the public schools. Lucille graduated from Lewiston High School in 1941.
Lucille met her husband-to-be, Wilmer Wesley (Bus) Pruitt while he attended Lewis and Clark Normal School in Lewiston. Bus was drafted into the army immediately after Pearl Harbor and was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington state for basic training. Lucille and Bus were married in Shelton, Wash., on Feb. 20, 1942, shortly before Bus left for four years in the 3rd Infantry Division, participating in the World War II liberation of Northern Africa, Sicily and Italy. Lucille worked in Portland, Ore., at Montgomery Ward during the war years. She was active in various civilian war effort organizations.
After the war, Bus completed his teaching degree at North Idaho College of Education (formerly Lewis & Clark Normal School). The couple lived in Craigmont and Orofino, Idaho, where Bus taught and Lucille worked in various secretarial positions in the mid and late 1940s. The couple purchased and ran the B&C Market on Main Street in Orofino with partners for a few years in the early 1950s. Their next business venture was the purchase of the Golden Rule Dry Goods store across the street, renaming it Pruitt's Dry Goods and running it together for four years. Lucille was active as a community volunteer and member of the Orofino Chamber of Commerce, Business and Professional Women and VFW Ladies Auxiliary.
A son, Stephen Douglas Pruitt, was born to the couple on Oct. 21, 1952. Bus returned to teaching at Orofino Elementary School in the 1960s and Lucille worked as the principal's secretary. After Bus received his master's in education from the University of Idaho, he took a position as principal of Kamiah Elementary and Junior High School and moved the family to Kamiah, Idaho, in 1966. Lucille took a position as elementary librarian at the Kooskia Elementary School, where she worked until she retired in the early 1990s. Lucille's beautiful knitted articles garnered blue ribbons at local county fairs throughout the years in the Clearwater Valley.
Bus died in 1987 at the Boise, Idaho, VA Medical Center. Lucille remained actively involved in community life in the Kamiah area for the next decade. She then moved to Hailey, Idaho, in 1996 to be near her son's family. She became an enthusiastic volunteer as a senior tax assistant through the Blaine County Senior Center, and knitted hundreds of bonnets and booties for the Blaine County newborns through St. Luke's Wood River Hospital Auxiliary.
Her brother Tommy Poore also preceded Lucille in death in 1976. Son and daughter-in-law Steve and Collett Pruitt of Hailey, and granddaughters Gariety and Kaley Pruitt, both of New York City, survive her.
A private memorial service is pending in 2011 in north Idaho. The family suggests memorials to Blaine County Senior Connection or the charity of your choice. Arrangements are being provided by Parke's Magic Valley Funeral Home in Twin Falls, Idaho.
