Editorial Reflections
Fig Tree honors four volunteers who died since spring
Over the summer, four of The Fig Tree volunteers—two delivery persons, an editor and a board member—have died.
"Each member of The Fig Tree team brings their unique skills to the various tasks needed to publish and distribute the newspaper," said Mary Stamp, editor. "We will miss the contributions of these people."
The Fig Tree honored Bart Preecs, who was a business reporter for The Spokesman-Review until it merged newsrooms with The Daily Chronicle. Then he covered higher education and religion when The Fig Tree was starting and he served on the organizing committee, until he moved to Richland. His parents, Bert and Martha Preecs, helped with Fig Tree mailings and deliveries.
Bart, who died May 19, grew up in Spokane, graduated in 1965 from Shadle Park High School and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Washington and later a master's in communication at Eastern Washington University. After Bart retired as an adjunct instructor at Walla Walla Community College and returned to Spokane in 2020, he was pleased that The Fig Tree was still publishing and began helping with deliveries.
"The Fig Tree provides a forum to give voice and visibility for activities in the community, city, valley and beyond. What people do would not be visible to the community if it weren't for The Fig Tree," said Bart, who was a member of Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ.
"It changes our mental picture of what our community is like if we know there are churches opening their doors for warming shelters or joining in pride festivals. We start thinking in broader terms. It's critical for the community's self-understanding or self-awareness if we know that there are people out there doing things," Bart said, adding that stories informing people about what is happening gives people courage to do things they might not otherwise do.
"If we think we live in isolation and don't understand what is going on, we may feel powerless or think that nothing we can do will change the situation," he said. "We might assume there will always be homeless people downtown and look the other way. If we hear of people doing things, we may ask, 'What can I do?' Then we may realize we can donate some clothes, drop a check in the mail and make a difference.
"Being able to make a difference makes people feel powerful," said Bart.
Dru Powers, who died July 26, was a volunteer editor for The Fig Tree since 2016, joining the editing team at the dining room table at editor Mary Stamp's house, and adding to editors' conversations sharing about being a foster parent.
When COVID meant that editing needed to be done another way, she edited articles that were emailed to her and sent a list of corrections.
She retired from 33 years working as an administrator at SuperValu grocery wholesaler in Spokane and then completed a foster parent certificate at Spokane Falls Community College. As a foster parent for 32 years, she was "Mom" for more than 25 teens. She helped mentor other foster parents and was a member of the Foster Parent Association of Washington State's Board of Directors. She received three awards for her service in the foster care community.
Her life will be celebrated at a memorial service at 1 p.m., Sept. 4, at Hennessey Valley Funeral Home in Spokane Valley. Her family invites people to support a scholarship for Eastern Washington Students in the master of social work program at http://ewu.edu/give/funds/ then typing "Dru Powers" in the search box.
Tracey Waring, who served on The Fig Tree Board of Directors since 2019, died Aug. 18.
She graduated from Eastern Washington University with a masters in social work and public policy, and a bachelors in religious studies from Gonzaga University. She was a lay leader at St. Andrew's Episcopal church.
While involved in prison ministry, she became acquainted with The Fig Tree in 2009, when she shared her story of starting the Clothes Closet for women released from Pine Lodge Corrections Center in Medical Lake—thefigtree.org/oct09/100109waring.html.
She also founded the Stone Soup Café at St. Andrew's and was involved with social justice ministries. Two years ago, when St. Andrew's celebrated its 95th anniversary of serving the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood, Tracey, as parish administrator, told the church's history, including its commitment to feed neighbors—thefigtree.org/nov22/110122standrewsepiscopal.html.
Memorial donations may be made to St. Andrew's.
Jay Ilch, a volunteer delivery person who also helped with displays since summer 2022, just died on Aug. 25. He also assisted as a volunteer at the 40th anniversary dinner April 28.
Born in Eastern Washington, and sickly as a child, he was drawn to the Franciscan brothers and was ordained a Catholic priest, providing an "unconventional parish ministry on the West Coast, until in 1976, when he met Marie Anne Montgomery from Chicago. She was working at Sacred Heart. They married 10 years later, with her four children attending.
Jay worked in geriatrics and after retiring did volunteer work until the end of his life. There will be no service.
