ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- Catholic Social Services in Baldwin County is mourning the loss of its Director Michele Prockup who died Saturday, Aug. 4 at age 60.

“She will be sorely missed, “ said Marilyn King, executive director for Catholic Social Services of Mobile, who served as Prockup’s supervisor. “She was just an inspiration to everyone who knew her and a beacon for Catholic Social Services. If she walked into a room of 50 people, you can bet by the time she left she had introduced herself to 25 of them and they knew about the work that Catholic Social Services is doing.”

According to information provided by King, Prockup went to work as the secretary for the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile in the early 1970s before being promoted to the administrative assistant to the Refugee Program director in 1976. She was then promoted to director of Refugee Resettlement Services in 1977.

From 1976 to 1996 she secured funding for 15 refugee-specific programs. She managed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in achieving legal status for undocumented aliens and secured the recognition of Catholic Social Services as a provider of immigration services by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

She transferred to Baldwin County as director of Catholic Social Services in 1996. Her achievements with Catholic Social Services included:

• Expanding programs to include the Valentine’s Banquet honoring local volunteers of several non-profit organizations and Project Reach, offering school supplies for needy and homeless.
• Became accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals to provide legal immigration services.
• Secured funding for renovation of the Family Promise Day Center facility.
• Created VOAD, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster.
• Established long-term recovery program after hurricanes Ivan and Katrina.
• Secured funding and volunteers to renovate the CSS Thrift Store and employ part-time staff.
• Developed the Permanent Housing for Disabled Homeless Project.
• Marketed the Feinstein Challenge to 1,700 individuals to seek matching funds to feed the poor.
• Secured funding for Framework, a program to help single mothers.
• Initiated the Homeless Task Force in Baldwin County.
• Developed the mission and vision for the Affordable Housing Task Force for the Baldwin County Commission to address affordable housing in the county.

She was named the Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year for 2010 and was the recipient of the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow Award for 2012.

“She was a bright light in a sometimes dark world,” King said. “She was always looking on the bright side of things, which sounds hokey, but was really genuine. She was always looking to do for others and she knew how to get things done.”

A native of Dothan former resident of Mobile and a resident of Robertsdale, Prockup served over 35 years with Catholic Ministries, the last 17 as director of Catholic Social Services in Baldwin County, which is based in Robertsdale.

She was a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church for 15 years, where she served as a Eucharistic minister and lector.

“When you talk to people and they tell you that ‘so-and-so is a pillar of the church’ that just seems inadequate to describe her role with the church,” said Father Patrick Madden, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Robertsdale. “She was the heart of the church and when you talked to her you got a true sense of what Catholic Social Services is all about, working with people in need to give them hope for the future.”

Prockup is survived by a daughter, Jessica Prockup; and a son, Ben Prockup, both of Robertsdale; brothers and sisters, Jacqueline Johnson Causey of Montgomery, Elizabeth Johnson of Tuscaloosa, Michael Johnson of Alexandria, Va., Jimmy Johnson of Oxford, and Amy Johnson Malecki of Mobile; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, Aug. 7 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Robertsdale with Father Madden officiating. Burial followed at Dyess Cemetery in Robertsdale.

The family requests memorial donations be made to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, P.O. Box 1367, Robertsdale, AL 36567.