Rebecca Pruitt and her grandchildren
There are people who have never met Rebecca Pruitt who very much honor and respect her. Most see her as they drive past in their vehicles. Some watch as she passes their home. Many don’t even know who she is. What they do know is that almost every day for years now, rain or shine, hot or cold, Rebecca walks from the foot of Hope Road in Centreville to Rt.301, then down Tanyard Road and back, picking up every piece of litter she spots along her way.
When asked, local resident Ronda Riley says she sees Rebecca roadside all the time and always waves hello despite never having had the opportunity to introduce herself. Discussing Rebecca’s mission to clean up after other less conscientious passerby, Riley quotes the author and social media personality Mandy Hale: “To make a difference in someone’s life, you do not have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect, you just have to care.”
“I wholeheartedly believe those words,” Riley continues, “and, in my opinion, Mrs. Truitt represents brilliant, rich, beautiful and perfect. She makes a difference every single day for everyone in our community.”
Originally from Boulder, Colorado, Rebecca Espeland Pruitt grew up “active and outside.” Camping, hiking, and skiing were all part of her loving, supportive, and conscientious family’s regular activities and their connection to the landscape, the world around them, was ingrained in her upbringing. Her parents taught her about conservation and an energy conscious style of living. “For instance,” she says, “Dad put up solar panels before anybody knew what they were.”
Rebecca met her husband Wayne while they both served in the U.S. Navy. They were in boot camp and first interacted in church. She told him to take his feet off the kneelers meant for genuflecting prayer. Rebecca achieved the rank of Chief in the field of Hospital Corpsman and was stationed both stateside and overseas in places like Okinawa, Japan and Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico. After fifteen years and the first Gulf War she took early retirement to ensure her children would have one parent always at home. Wayne went on to put in thirty years, retiring as a Command Master Chief.
Having traveled the world, Wayne’s final assignments for the military were in the Maryland and Virginia region. The family lived across the bridge in Cape St. Claire where Rebecca worked as a Realtor. When Wayne mustered out, with their kids had grown and graduated from high school, he and his wife started looking for a less busy, less populated place to call home. “We wanted more space, less traffic,” says Rebecca, so sixteen years ago the couple moved to Centreville.
An athlete, Rebecca ran cross-country in high school and as an adult participated in marathons and triathlons. As she aged her doctors told her to run less, walk more. That’s when she began her routine of hiking the ten or so miles up and down Rt.305 and picking up the trash left behind by others.
She says, “I’m a bit of a perfectionist and can’t stand to see anything left a mess. The litter bugged me so I just did something about it. In the first two weeks I picked up twelve 39-gallon bags full of road trash. It’s gotten better. Now I collect one or two small grocery store bags a day, though sometimes on the walk back someone has already littered the route.”
Only skipping days for travel, health reasons, or when there is thunder and lightning, mere precipitation is not a hindrance, Rebecca says “It seems like a really simple thing, but the world would be a better place if every person would just pick up what’s in front of them. What I do is not selfless, I’m getting my exercise in, but while I’m doing something for myself, I can do more than that. Picking up litter is my way of giving back to the earth for what it’s given me.”
Rebecca is a big believer in taking care of those unable to take care of themselves. She maintains both a flower and a vegetable garden and at the end of the growing season puts up about 100 pint jars of canned and preserved food from which she and Wayne donate to local food banks what they can’t use themselves. She says, “We also love rescue animals and the organizations that do so much to help them so we always support local groups such as the Chesapeake Cats and Dogs animal shelter and Saving Future Feral Cats.”
Rebecca’s generosity does not recognize boundaries when it comes to those in need. One of her most favored non-profits is the Charity: Water organization which provides drinking water to people in developing nations. She says, “There are places in the world that don’t have the things we too often take for granted. Everyone deserves clean water.”
It’s that big hearted thoughtfulness and the effort to do something about the things that need attention that impresses both the people who know her and those who see her on her daily trek.
The Pruitt’s neighbor Lee Robinson says, “Her perseverance is remarkable. She walks that walk every day. Her enthusiasm and positivity are infectious. She is always smiling and cheerful. She truly is,” he adds, “a shining example of what we all should be.”
Another neighbor, Renee Rogers, agrees. She says that Rebecca and Wayne “are wonderful people” and that they show how much they care for the people in our immediate neighborhood by “doing things for them that they might not be able to do for themselves like cutting their grass or picking up after their pets.”
Rebecca’s aforementioned fan from afar, Ronda Riley, closes the conversation. She marvels over how Rebecca gives of her own time “day after day, hot and sunny or cold and rainy to pick up other people’s trash. She picks up every piece, visible or hiding in the bushes. She has the autonomy to do what she wants with her time and this is what she chooses to do. I’ve never met her but I always wave.
“Tell her I’m the woman in the red Suburban and that I want to meet her someday.
“She’s a beautiful person.
“Centreville is fortunate to have her as a neighbor.”
Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.
Intended to be “the front porch of our community,” 
Member Kathleen Rambo
Executive Director Rick Strittmater, a Maryland native and a resident of Centreville, was hired by the Arts Council’s Board of Directors in September 2016. With an art degree, a passion for music, and a background in business, teaching, and designing large scale projects like trade shows and wildlife exhibits at the Baltimore Zoo, Rick’s extensive resume combined with the working relationship he’d already established with the organization after serving on the board for two years made him the perfect candidate for the job. 
Some things, like nuts and bolts or cut and paste, combine in such a simple, straightforward way that half the pairing is useless without the other. It’s the only way they really work.
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It’s a creative and fun environment with a sprinkling of showbiz thrown in, but as Keith says, there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. In all aspects of their business, “There’s something new every day, but it’s a group effort.” Everybody jumps in where they’re needed. “For instance, one of Cheryl’s specialties is her eye for color, so she’ll consult. Or the artists will put their heads together to create something new and different.”
The staff reflect the personality of the space they work in and vice versa. “Everyone here brings so much to the table,” says Keith. “We get to be creative, make art, every day. It’s a dream come true. It’s fun, but it’s also a business. Not only does our livelihood depend on this, to ensure the longevity of all our careers we have to make sure this shop is open and as busy as it can be every day. People depend on us.”
The group is an offshoot of a Veterans Book that meets at the Centreville branch of the Queen Anne’s County library. Supported in part by a federal grant, the book club meets the second Tuesday of every month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and aims to bring vets of all eras, ranks, branch, and length of service together to talk about their military and post-service experiences while providing, according to the mission statement, “an informal, supportive environment through works of literature.”
Helping vets is something Nilsson knows about. After his USMC stint, Nilsson made a career in the international construction business, traveling the world to manage massively complex projects. During the Gulf War, he began making trips to Bethesda Naval Hospital to visit veterans. These early trips led to over 4,000 visits over 20 years, which in turn resulted in his non-profit organization, the 100 Entrepreneurs Project which mentors and supports vets looking to start their own business. Nilsson utilizes his business connections to bring veterans and mentors together and to help companies understand the importance of supporting the veteran community. 
