Duck Lady

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Laura-Kay Prophet, known as Duck Lady, in Vancouver, has passed away.

I met her once about a year and a half ago, at a bus stop. I pet her duck - which, in itself was so unusual it made me chuckle. She handed me a small printed piece of paper or card - I don’t remember exactly what was on it and unfortunately I no longer have it but it was something to do with ducks, and happiness -
it was to cheer people up. I remember that. The interaction made me smile. She was a special person. We need more duck ladies.

'Magically eccentric character': Locals react to passing of Vancouver Duck Lady

Laura-Kay Prophet was "a West End legend and wonderful person"

www.vancouverisawesome.com

 

[Luce NDs]

In NCIS they had a Duck Heh ... a hated pathologist! Folk do not like you looking into what' surp ast ... heh has ince departed ...

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

She was quite eccentric and that was not her birth name, I read. Though, I don’t know what it was. She claimed to have gotten messages from God through her ducks etc. - she was different. But she was very kind. She (and her ducks) walked around talking to, helping, and cheering people up, daily, for decades. That was her vocation.

 

[Mendalla]

Sometimes being eccentric is not a bad thing. Kitchener had Anna Kaljas, known as The Snake Lady for her choice of pets, and she ran residences for men with mental health or addiction or something like that issues. My family church supported some of her work.

She was quite eccentric and that was not her birth name, I read. Though, I don’t know what it was. She claimed to have gotten messages from God through her ducks etc. - she was different. But she was very kind. She (and her ducks) walked around talking to, helping, and cheering people up, daily, for decades. That was her vocation.

Sad to hear she is gone. Hope her legacy of kindness and cheer lives on.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I find it’s rarely a bad thing.

 

[Mystic]

When I was a UMC pastor, I tried in vain to find permanent accommodation for a homeless lady called the Duck Lady because of her pet duck that was imprinted on her. The best I could do was the lobby of our small post office, but the protests of late night customers soon got her booted out of there. Then I lost touch with her and the years rolled by. Eventually, I found someone who knew about her fate and I'm haunted by her reply: "Oh, the Duck Lady was found frozen to death, lying against a tree in the park a few years ago!" That means she froze to death in the park across the treet from our church while I was still the minister!" No one in my church had known about her sad fate.

 

[Luce NDs]

Eccentric is a thing causing great fear ... sometimes known as Xenophobia ... and why people are hesitant to learn of things they are not familiar with ...

I ask about the relationship to the stranger of Galilee and out familiarity with the bomb instead of respecting bombs ... anxiety to blow everything away?

Its God awful ...

 

[Mystic]

Sean's case was was at least as tragic as our Duck Lady freezing to death across the street from my church.
Sean moved from California to live with his brother on a military base in western Washington. His brother got him into drugs, including meth, with the result that Sean became a paranoid schizophrenic. Somehow he found his way here, homeless, and slept in a tent in the woods just outside of town. I arranged for him to make money doing odd jobs for parishioners. Winter was coming and I offered to pay for a bus ticket back to California, but he protested that his father was involved in crime; so going home was not an option. Besides, he said he liked snow, oblivious to the freezing temperatures that come with snow.
I tried in vain to get him to see a a local psychiatrist so that he could get the meds he needed. Then we lost touch.

He showed up at church a couple of months later to tell me he had gotten a room in the hotel beside our church to escape the cold. He said he was paying for the room with money from odd jobs and I suspected he was working for a drug dealer. I was soon to learn that he was stealing from cars parked at the hotel, including the hotel owner's gun in the glove compartment. He was seen in the act and reported to the police.

When the officer came to his hotel room door, he saw a bag on Sean's bed and ordered him to empty it. Out fell the gun, which Sean picked up in a daze. When Sean delayed compliance with the officer's order to drop it, the officer emptied his revolver in Sean's chest. Sean was shot the day after he came to my church to tell me his good fortune and the next day I saw police swarming around the hotel--and that's how I discovered Sean's grizzly fate.
Despite his mental illness, Sean was a gentle soul; so I don't think the stolen gun posed a threat to the officer.

I retired from the ministry in 2015 and we've had a warming center for homeless sleepers for the past few years. The tragic fate of Sean and our Duck lady illustrates just how important it is to have that warming center for the homeless in winter.