Nancy Prafke knows it’s all in the timing

PRAFKE She’s a golfer, master gardener, former Fortune 500 executive, devoted wife, community activist and holds what’s undeniably the busiest and most responsible volunteer job in Charlotte County.

At first glance, Nancy Prafke could be anyone. A school principal — perhaps a doctor. Maybe a yoga instructor or a boutique owner. She’s none of these, but she exudes the calm and command that would be required by any of these jobs.

In her life, she’s worn myriad hats, professionally and personally. Today, Mrs. Prafke is the CEO of TEAM Punta Gorda, an all-volunteer citizens’ group formed just five years ago to revitalize the community following Hurricane Charley.

“I just felt that maybe there was something I could do with TEAM,” Mrs. Prafke said. “I’m not an architect. I’m not an engineer. I don’t have a city planning background. But I thought there was something I could do to help out, so I became part of the operations and administration committee.”

When the chairman of that committee moved to Sarasota, Mrs. Prafke took on the leading role for 18 months. Later, Mrs. Prafke was drafted to become the CEO.

“My husband really thought I should do it, so I said, OK,” Mrs. Prafke said. “It’s a huge organization, and very complex. At first, I said, ‘What the heck have I done?’”

Almost two years later, TEAM Punta Gorda is 2,000 members strong.

“We’re really blessed to have a lot of gifted people living in this community, a lot who have been very successful in various roles in life. When they moved here, they were not ready to park their brains,” she said.

She was born in Springfield, Ohio, 20 miles northeast of Dayton.

Her father was an active businessman, the president of a bank and very involved in the community.

“He served on every board you can think of,” she said. “And he did a lot of fundraising as an avocation. I grew up with a father who strongly believed in giving back. He was truly a servant of his community. And I believe we are all servants of our community.”

Mrs. Prafke’s undergraduate studies were dedicated to vocational home economics. Fresh out of college, she returned to the high school she’d graduated from and taught home economics for three years.

“At one time, I made virtually everything I wore: slacks, tops, coats, suits, dresses, golf attire. Bras, panties, lingerie, swimsuits. I taught men’s tailoring classes.”

She took a leave of absence to pursue a master’s degree in textiles and clothing at Ohio State University and became a buyer for the former Lazarus department store. “I did all the traveling to the garment district in New York and all that routine for six years,” she said. “At that point, I got tired of fashion and decided to get into something more related to technology. So I went into marketing at Ohio Bell.”

The career at Ohio Bell turned into one at AT&T. Along the way, she met and married her husband, John. For 19 years, she held a variety of positions with AT&T, from technical instructor and regional sales support to technical marketing.

To this day, her faith plays an integral role in her life, and she needed it in some of her darkest hours.

Her brother, Alan, suffered from a genetic degenerative lung disease. At 49, he received a lung transplant that didn’t take.

With her brother clinging to life in Ohio, Mrs. Prafke shuttled between her home in Colorado and her brother’s bedside. Ten days before the failed transplant would end his life, her brother’s wife was killed in a traffic accident. That day, a close aunt died unexpectedly, and her mother was to undergo hip replacement surgery.

“It was the summer from hell,” she said.

Midway through the chaos, she returned to Colorado to work. “We were sitting on the front deck, and I just knew my heart wasn’t in (my career),” she said.

The next morning, she got a call from a co-worker that the company had offered an attractive retirement package for which she qualified.

“How odd that I had this conversation the night before the early pension enhancement offer came out,” she said. “So I took it.”

Following retirement and the summer from hell, Mrs. Prafke and her husband continued to play golf, and on a lark, the couple vacationed at Fishermen’s Village. After a week of exploring Charlotte Harbor, they decided to move to Punta Gorda.

“Actually, we were house-shopping here three days before Charley hit. That was rather a surreal experience,” she said.

Following Charley, and back in Colorado, the couple put their mountain home on the market. “It never made it to the MLS,” she said of the near overnight sale.

“It really all fell together. It was as if someone was saying, ‘OK, time to go.’”

Today, she’s one of the most recognized citizens in Punta Gorda.

“Sometimes in life,” she said, “I think, things are meant to be.” ¦