Jane Marie Mushaw Prairie

Jane Marie (Mushaw) Prairie died on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. At the time of her death, Mrs. Prairie had been living at the Wellington Oaks Memory Care Facility in Greensboro. She was 92. Mrs. Prairie was born in Amsterdam, N.Y., on June 26, 1924 to Frances and Albert Mushaw, the first of three children they were to have. She grew up in a strong Polish-Catholic home. As a child, she learned to play piano, fueling a love of music she carried throughout her life. As an adult, she loved playing Shubert, Liszt but especially Chopin. She also loved all forms of jazz as well as the Beatles and Santana. She graduated from Wilbur Lynch High School in Amsterdam and Mildred Ellie Secretarial School in Albany, N.Y., She met and married her best friend's brother, Charles E. Prairie of Massena, N.Y., on the weekend in June 1945 that he returned home from World War II. They were married in December of that year. The couple settled in Albany, N.Y., where they began raising their three children, Carol, Joel Francis (Chip) and Cynthia. In 1960, the family moved to Greensboro, N.C., where Charles Prairie had taken a position in the advertising department with the Greensboro Daily News and Record. Jane Prairie worked as a legal secretary for several firms in Greensboro, including McClendon, Brim, Holderness and Brooks. She also worked at Kayser-Roth. She was valued for her quick typing and shorthand skills as well as her sharp mind. While she loved her work, she also enjoyed gardening, camping and swimming at the North Carolina coast - particularly at Topsail Island - her pets including her boxers and poodles, photography, traveling the East Coast from Nova Scotia to the Florida Keys, crossword puzzles, reading, cooking and experimenting with new recipes. In 1990, the couple retired to to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Mrs. Prairie became involved in the Newcomers Club and she renewed her passion for bridge. Following her husband's death in November of 1994, Mrs. Prairie took extended tours of Alaska, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Thailand, Singapore and Italy, where, she said, she became sick of pasta. She also loved her three grandchildren, Leah Cunningham, Camille Prairie and Isaac Prairie and, for as long as she could, supported their interests in word and deed. Mrs. Prairie returned to Greensboro in 2011 to live out her final days near her son, Chip, his wife Nancy and their two children. She is also survived by her daughters Carol Small of Winthrop, Me., and Cynthia Prairie of Chester, Vt., as well as Cynthia's husband Shawn Cunningham. Besides her parents and husband, Mrs. Prairie was pre-deceased by her beloved sister Ruth Mushaw and brother Albert Mushaw Jr. and son-in-law Michael Small. Following cremation, Mrs. Prairie's ashes will be interred with those of her husband at the Salisbury, N.C., Veterans Cemetery. Interment is being handled by Lambeth-Troxler Funeral Home, 300 West Wendover Ave. in Greensboro.