Then her boyfriend, Elmon Prier, who was working for Chrysler in Detroit, Mich., interviewed the next year for a position in the same school district.
District officials were impressed by Wilhelmina and didn’t want to lose her.
So the cards were stacked in Elmon’s favor.
Written on the top of the sheet of paper that sat on the interviewer’s desk, were the words: “HIRE MISS DUNCAN’S FIANCE.”
Elmon joined his wife in Middletown where they spent their careers in the school district, raised their three sons, and in the case of Elmon, impacted hundreds, if not thousands, of students.
“He was a man for all seasons,” his wife said. “He loved people no matter who they were.”
Elmon’s work in the community ended on Easter Sunday when he suffered a massive heart attack and died. He was 78.
When he was diagnosed with clogged heart arteries, doctors told him he needed open heart surgery.
He refused the potential life-saving procedure.
“He did it his way,” Wilhelmina said.
He lived the same way he died.
Prier, a native of Rhine, Ga., had an opinion on about every subject and he often expressed his thoughts as a guest columnist in the Middletown Journal.
His topics ranged from critical reflections on Dr. King’s dream; race relations and Civil Rights in the U.S.; the politics of education; the pitfalls and triumphs of overcoming drug abuse; domestic, local, and world issues; and the celebration of athletic excellence.
Some of the 700 columns were captured in two books entitled, A Chocolate Piece of Middletown & Other Articles: 1978-1988 and The Words, Wit, and Wisdom of a “Called Out” African-American Freelance Writer: 1990-2000.
“He wanted the reader — Black or white, or others — to gain some practical lesson from his words,“ said one of his sons, Darius, 47, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University. ”(He) wanted his words to force one to think critically about their reality; explain how to intervene upon it if it was unjust; and present practical everyday solutions, pleading for all to see their neighbor as they would themselves."
Those lessons were taught to Elmon by his parents, his wife said. His step-father owned a gas station in Miami, Fla., and if anyone in town needed assistance, he offered.
Elmon Willis Prier was the same way.
The basement of his Middletown home was a counseling center and ministry that never closed. When people had questions, regardless of the time of day, they sought Elmon’s advice since he was an educator and ordained minister.
“He just always wanted to see these kids do better,” Wilhelmina said of her husband of 55 years.
Darius added: “He was so many things to so many people.”
That included those who struggled with academics or addictions or those who sought employment after incarceration.
“He found potential in those the world had given up on,” Darius said. “That was his life’s calling.”
One of those students Prier impacted was Darren Brown, a 1979 MHS graduate. Every year, Brown returns to Middletown to present the annual Rosa Parks Day awards — that he finances — to local students and teachers.
In 2009, Prier was one of six Rosa Parks Day honorees, joining Sara Nori, Louise Truss, Jennifer Heard, Marla Marsh and the Rev. Gregory Tyus on stage.
Prier had mentored Brown since he was a sixth-grader at McKinley Elementary and Prier was the school’s football coach.
Through the years, the two had remained closer than some fathers and sons. They talked weekly.
“He helped plant seeds in my life,” Brown said at the time.
After high school, Brown — fueled by Prier’s letter of recommendation — graduated from Wilberforce University, Prier’s alma mater. He works for the transportation department in Washington, D.C.
Even Prier, who saw potential in everyone, was surprised by Brown’s success.
“He became a complete man,” Prier said after the ceremony. “He just grew wings and he continues to soar today. He may not be located here, but Middletown has always been on his mind.”
That’s just one of Prier’s success stories. His wife was asked to guess how many lives her husband touched.
“Oh, goodness,” she said. “No way of telling.”
Then she remembered a conversation she had with one of her sons after the funeral.
Someone told the boy: “Thanks for sharing your dad with us.”
Journal-News Columnist Rick McCrabb writes about local people and events every Sunday. If you have an idea for a story, contact him at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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