Memoriam

From this week's theater email:

There is going to be a Memorial/Wake for Ron Prosser on Sunday, Oct.5 from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Elks Lodge off Foster Road. There will be wine, beer, soft drinks and food. Ron specified that every one was invited. A grand time will be had by all.

From the Little Village:

If you were in the Iowa City Public Library any time before a few months ago, you know who I’m talking about. There’s a good chance he checked out some materials for you, or you at least saw him sitting behind the new library card desk, helping a patron acquire their magic passport to a world of wonderful books and other media marvels. He was the tall guy. No, not really “guy”—gentleman. The tall gentleman who looked kind of like a college professor, with slightly unkempt graying hair, big glasses, a big smile, a sonorous yet gentle voice, and, if you talked to him at all, you knew a big brain and a big heart. That was Ron Prosser, perhaps the greatest circulation clerk who ever lived.

. . . .

Ron was totally, and wonderfully, what Iowa City was all about. He showed us that finding your bliss was more important than fame, ambition, wealth, or an enviable address. Ron could have gone so many places and done so many things, but he found the place, the work, and the people he loved, and he stayed with them—and lived a very rich life, and a life that enriched ours. Ron didn’t build any skyscrapers or have thousands and millions to give to admittedly worthy causes. He didn’t engineer a rise in the political landscape. He didn’t open a bunch of popular restaurants. But, as Library Director Susan Craig says, “He was so ‘Iowa City.’” He was smart and inquisitive, and he shared generously what he knew and loved learning from others. He was immersed in the cultural life of our community. He knew and created beauty. He was hilarious. He was odd. He was boisterously loving of his friends, family, people he served, animals, and strangers. He knew what a good thing his life in Iowa City was and stuck with it for a long, long time.

Farewell, Henry Higgins, Mr. Pumpkin, Jade Master, Father of Orchids, That Friendly Big Guy, The Greatest Circulation Clerk in the World. We have missed you, and we will continue to miss you, dearly.

Read the rest of the article. And if you've been in theater, some have a drink in his memory.