Mayor honors pioneer association chronicler with volunteer award

ARLINGTON – A local writer chronicling the first 100 years of Arlington may want to update her “About the Author” page in the next edition.

Mayor Barb Tolbert presented longtime resident Shirley Prouty with the Mayor’s Volunteer Award at the May 6 City Council meeting.

Prouty, a long-standing member of the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Association, has been writing “100 Years of Arlington” for over 15 years, painstakingly researching and documenting the history of the city.

She is now working on Volume 4, her final book in the series.

Prouty and her husband, Dick, moved to Arlington from Kirkland in 1973. Shirley was a 4-H leader for 26 years and spent 19 years with the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. She was manager of the photography department for nine years. Her husband was heavily involved in the State Science Olympiad, and she helped with that for over two decades.

Shirley got involved with the Pioneer Museum around 2000 after hearing from friends that they needed help. She wrote the grant for the Watershed Model project at the museum and drafted the design for the Red Work Quilt that highlights historic places, which got her started on the History of Arlington book series.

“It takes a community to document history,” Prouty said.

Helen Star did a lot of the embroidery work on the Red Work Quilt at age 93. Steve VanValkenberg has offered information about the old-timers in Arlington, and Loren Kratz has helped with many of the programs involving the history of Arlington.

For details about the book contact the museum at 360-435-7289 or go to www.stillymuseum.org.