Arabelle B. Plonk

Arabelle Boyer Plonk
April 21, 1923 - April 25, 2013
Raleigh
Arabelle Boyer Plonk of Raleigh, 90, died April 25 of complications from two falls since January. An active member of White Memorial Presbyterian Church for 47 years, Mrs. Plonk was born in Charlotte to prominent architect Martin Evans Boyer, Jr., and wife Arabelle (Johnson). Boyer was instrumental in the creation of the Mint Museum of Art. Mrs. Plonk attended Agnes Scott College, Salem College, and Queens College. She worked in a battery factory and served as a Red Cross volunteer during World War II. She married veteran Thomas Motley Plonk, Jr., in 1948, who moved the family from Florida to Raleigh in 1966 when he became secretary-treasurer of A.E. Finley and Associates. He died in 1970. In her later years Mrs. Plonk worked at the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners, where she enjoyed the detective work of verifying applications from prospective lawyers. But Mrs. Plonk described herself as "a professional volunteer." She started a clothing bank in Orlando, FL, and volunteered at the N.C. Symphony, the state history museum, the art museum, Master Gardeners, Urban Ministries, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, and her church. Up until the last five months of her life she enjoyed ballroom dances and drove herself to yoga classes. A bubbly personality noted for the twinkle in her eye, when she was 89 a driver's license examiner said she "drove like a bat out of hell." Her last lucid words, said to a healthcare worker, were, "Thank you, dear."
Her life will be celebrated at White Memorial, 1704 Oberlin Rd., 2 p.m., Monday, with a reception following.
Mrs. Plonk is survived by daughters Arabelle Fedora of Winston-Salem and Mary Louise Brown of Lexington; son Jim Morgan of Raleigh; sons-in-law J. Brodie Brown and John Fedora; grandchildren Martin E. Brown and Melissa L. Brown Ruffo of Rochester, NY, William J. Fedora of Washington, DC, and A. Caroline Fedora of New York City; and great-grandson Skyler C. Brown of Colorado Springs, CO.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Urban Ministries, or White Memorial.