"As a person I found her a complete inspiration and her approach to being 'visually challenged' (she hated the word blind) was fantastic and made people realise how anyone can get over any problems.”
Daphne Cross, who was a social worker with Prue for some 15 of the 22 years Prue stayed in the job, agreed that her colleague could be feisty. “She was very intense and driven to excel,” she said. “She always wanted to do what sighted people could do. She was very efficient and very hardworking.”
Prue was born on May 7, 1957, in Gnowangerup in the Great Southern, and was brought up just west of nearby Tambellup, on the family farm Winton Park.
From the outset her life was affected by the disability she herself would suffer, in that her father Derek, although blind, was actively managing Winton Park with Denise. Derek had been born blind in one eye and lost the other when a piece of wood he was chopping hit his good eye. Prue was diagnosed with retinoblastoma when she was 12 months old and soon, she too, lost her sight.
She began her education at Tambellup Primary School at a time when it was uncommon for blind children to enter mainstream schools. She was greatly helped by her grandmother Barbara Reynalds who, at almost 60, learnt Braille so that she could teach Prue. Barbara also passed on her great love of music to her grand-daughter.
In 1969 the Reynalds family moved to Perth, with the aim of providing the best possible secondary education for Prue, her older brother Michael, and younger sister Janene.
The family bought a home in Attadale to make it as easy as possible for Prue to attend school at nearby Santa Maria College.
After secondary schooling Prue went to WAIT, where she took a course in social work. Her determination and persistence plus the selfless cooperation of friends and family who recorded each semester's reading ahead of time to enable her to keep pace with her study saw her complete her degree.
"She had to have top marks and also do a bridging year because some were not sure that she could do social work because of her blindness," Denise said
While studying at WAIT Prue acquired Quintella, the first of the two guide dogs which were to become her great companions and helpers, With Quintella at her side Prue gained increased independence, which she used to attend youth meetings and pursue her love of Bible study.
Part of that independence saw her put stickers over Quintella, saying: “Please do not feed me." Ms Cross explained:
"People love to feed guide dogs, but these Labradors can put on weight very easily, so this was Prue's answer"
Prue also began indulging another of her great passions, travel - often alone.
She was as determined at sport as she was at her studies. She took part in two Paralympics: in New York in 1984 she won a bronze medal in the 1500m track event; and in Barcelona in 1992 she finished fourth in the 64km tandem cycling road race.
Prue loved the property she bought at Pemberton and though her house was 5km from the town she regularly walked there with the aid of her second guide dog, Ming.
Her life took another direction in 2002 when she married Darryl Yeo. She moved to Hobart to join Darryl and his six children.
Prue was diagnosed with cancer in early 2006, in the same week as she had completed the arduous training requirements of the Tasmanian authorities to qualify for what was to have been her third guide dog.
She died on September 27 2006, survived by Denise, Darryl and her new family as well as her brother and sister.
She was buried close to Winton Park among the beloved bushland and landscape of her childhood.