Vic Prislipsky is the recipient of the 2020 HSV Audubon Presidents Award.👏👏👏 (Something good really did happen in 2020!)
This is a long-overdue recognition of Vic for his selfless service to HSV Audubon since 2009. His award-winning photographs of area birds, plants and nature is inspirational. In fact, over 120 of the photos on this website are from his camera. Vic is definitely our go-to-guy for bird identification, and he conducts a series of popular Bird ID class every March. Vic has served on the Board for many years. He spearheads most of our field trips, and is a frequent contributor to to the Village Voice on behalf of HSV Audubon. Often he and his equally-talented wife, Sharon, prepare popular visual programs for the membership, click here to see their latest (180+ views!). It’s my pleasure to present this award to Vic for spreading his knowledge and enthusiasm among our members!
- Norma Wall, President, HSV Audubon
The award will be presented at a Board Meeting on December 4, 2020, with future plans is to have a membership celebration luncheon as soon as health concerns about COVID permit.
Vic Prislipsky grew up in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Despite spending more time in the woods than with homework he managed to attend the University of Pittsburgh where he met his wife to be, Sharon.
Vic patiently waits for the right shot.
While working on a master’s degree in economics Vic had a summer and weekend job at the premier country club in Pittsburgh where he had the privilege of shining shoes and cleaning toilet bowls for some of the richest and luckiest men in the city. However, Uncle Sam intervened and a master’s in economics was not to be. This was great luck as Vic’s army experience convinced him that suits, ties, and climbing corporate ladders was not for him. With longer hair and flannel shirts instead of suits, he began work on a master’s degree in special education. His first assignment was at a Pittsburgh institute for wayward boys where he had the privilege of teaching some of the poorest and unluckiest boys in the city.
Vic went on to earn a graduate degree in School Psychology. He and Sharon moved to a log cabin on a trout stream in the north woods of Michigan where their daughter, now a special educator in Texas, was born and raised.
After 30 years in Pennsylvania, 30 years in Michigan, Vic and Sharon are planning on 30 years in Arkansas. For as long as Vic can remember he has loved being in the woods. Whether building an Indian camp as a child or now fly-fishing around North America or searching the Village for birds and wildflowers to photograph he remains in awe of the beauty and power of Nature. Vic and Sharon, his wife of 50+ years, have been active in Audubon since moving here in 2009. Vic, active in local camera clubs, is also a lifetime member of Arkansas Audubon and the Arkansas Native Plant Society.