Longtime adapted aquatics advocate E. Louise Priest of Indianapolis, 87, died of cancer on Oct. 22.
“She was a true Renaissance woman,” said Susan J. Grosse, president of Aquatic Consulting & Education Resource Services in Milwaukee and a friend of 45 years. “She was friendly, outgoing, down to earth, a wordsmith. She had myriad interests and abilities, and was very efficient in getting things done.”
Before embarking upon a path in aquatics, Priest obtained an undergraduate degree from Indiana State University and a graduate degree from George Mason University in Virginia. She started as a volunteer for the American Red Cross at its National Aquatic School in Indiana. That, in turn, led to staff positions at American Red Cross national headquarters, where she wrote the text Adapted Aquatics, as well as leading clinics and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad, promoting aquatic education, safety, and adapted aquatics.
Many have called Priest the “mother of adapted aquatics” and indeed, said Grosse, “She coined the term ‘adapted aquatics.”
Among Priest’s many accomplishments was her leadership of the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics, composed of more than 25 organizations. As CNCA executive director in the 1980s, she worked with the groups on cooperative projects and information sharing. While at CNCA, she developed an adapted aquatics program in Indianapolis. Priest also became managing editor of CNCA’s highly respected National Aquatics Journal for 10 years.
Her 50-year career included work as a master teacher for the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, aka AAHPERD, and she also served as an instructor for special populations at the YMCA. Also, there was a stint as instructor for a program now known as the International Lifeguard Training Program for Jeff Ellis & Associates of Orlando.
Joe Stefanyak, an E&A director, said he met Priest in the 1990s through various aquatics programs and work on newsletters. “She was wonderful, very down to earth and in touch with the aquatics community,” Stefanyak recalled. “She made a big contribution to the industry in her writings, among other things. I’m in awe of what she did.”
During Priest’s time at CNCA, she met Jill White, co-founder of Starfish Aquatics Institute, based in Lincolnshire, Ill. “I knew her from the early 1980s,” White said. “I was on the CNCA board, and we lived in the same town. She was very kind and compassionate, extremely passionate for aquatics in general and adapted aquatics in particular. She’ll be remembered also for her commitment to excellence in editing and writing. … She was a mentor to me and so many others; she made people feel they could do anything.”
As if Priest’s workdays weren’t busy enough, she somehow found time for special interests. She loved to cook for family and friends, and also was an amateur herbalist and mycologist, specializing in mushrooms. “She would look for certain [mushroom] species when she traveled,” White noted. “And her handmade leather work — belts, purses and pouches — was beautiful.”
Perhaps Jeff Ellis summed up a life well lived best: “Louise was one of those select few ‘larger than life’ humans that exemplified the very best of mankind. While she will be missed, her legacy remains infinitely timeless.”
Louise Priest is survived by sisters Bonnie Priest and Christina Priest, a niece, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and cousins.
