{"id":4261,"date":"2012-09-26T13:42:29","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T20:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/?p=4261"},"modified":"2025-02-06T23:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T07:16:13","slug":"priscilla-nesbitt-lover-of-trees-wild-animals-caring-people-and-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/priscilla-nesbitt-lover-of-trees-wild-animals-caring-people-and-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Priscilla Nesbitt — Lover of trees, wild animals, caring people and books."},"content":{"rendered":"

Carmel lost a great character this morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Priscilla<\/a>

Priscilla Nesbitt at 100 (mph or years), Arriving at Carmel Library Friends Book Sale – Laughing at my shoes<\/p><\/div>\n

Priscilla Nesbitt passed away quietly after leading a life of vibrant curiosity and deeply held passion for trees and wildlife, for caring people and knowledge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You get an insight into Priscilla\u2019s spirit with how she described her doctor to me. \u201cDr Kennedy is a tree hugger. I adore him.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d I\u2019m not sure she ever knew how much that endeared her to me.<\/p>\n

I knew her as a lover of animals, trees and forests, and wild places topped off with a gentle but firm, courteous demeanor.<\/p>\n

Many, now mature, locals knew her as a no nonsense elementary teacher at River School<\/strong> with a seemingly unlimited understanding of, and passion for, our natural world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She also loved books.<\/strong> When Priscilla learned her beloved Thunderbird<\/p>\n

\"Priscilla<\/a>

Priscilla Nesbitt – Inimitable<\/p><\/div>\n

bookstore was closing she uncharacteristically exclaimed \u201cOh Shit.\u201d Because I shared that passion, for the past 25 years we had a standing date to attend the fabulous Book sale for Carmel Library. We had almost as much fun standing in line with all the other book lovers as we did browsing the tables groaning with wonderful weighty words and inspiring photographs.<\/p>\n

She had a great set of retired live-in friends<\/strong> — Roscoe, Shadow, Lucia, and Trouve (to name just a few) whom most of us would call cats. As Priscilla put it they were \u201ctreasures<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her daughter Penelope put on a fabulous 90th birthday celebration, to which kindhearted friends and family arrived from far and wide. Such a wonderful caring group of people tells me volumes about the person who drew them there.<\/p>\n

At one time she and husband John (a celebrated Radio personality)<\/a> owned Big Sur’s Big Creek “ranch”<\/a> that extended South to include where the Camaldolese Hermitage<\/a> is today. Priscilla gave Malcolm Millard credit for saving Big Creek in Big Sur<\/a> from developers after husband John died. She described Malcolm as a man with \u201cgreat integrity and a sense of humanity.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d That set of values probably tells you more about her character<\/strong> than she would have admitted.<\/p>\n

Many others will recognize her name as a prolific and passionate letter writer to the newspapers, mostly aimed to protecting wild animals and our local forests.<\/strong> She knew important elected officials and some of their parents were her close friends including Fred Farr and Bill Monning’s mother. So some younger electeds trembled when they knew she\u2019d discovered they\u2019d done something bad for wildlife or wild places.<\/p>\n

A few short years ago she announced \u201cI\u2019m 98 and completely healthy and independent.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d Growing up with relatives with easy vigor and mental ability at that longevity, it seemed normal for me. But reflecting on so many other friends lost at earlier ages, makes me realize how special that is.<\/p>\n

Born in 1911, on September 5, she allowed me the honor of spending a few moments with her a couple weeks ago on her 101st birthday<\/strong>. She was surrounded with overflowing cards and photographs. We held hands reminiscing about books and trees and animals we\u2019ve known and loved, picnics at her Big Sur cabin and her dear friends and family.<\/p>\n

I already miss her warm kind caring spirit for, deeply insightful thoughts and vast knowledge of — our natural world.<\/p>\n

—————<\/p>\n

Priscilla’s beautifully written official Obituary at Legacy.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carmel lost a great character this morning. Priscilla Nesbitt passed away quietly after leading a life of vibrant curiosity and deeply held passion for trees and wildlife, for caring people and knowledge. You get an insight into Priscilla\u2019s spirit with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4261"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9152,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261\/revisions\/9152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}