Question
Large plant, about 8 years old, facing east window, resting on 12" plant riser.  ALL the leaves are ashy, shriveled, dry, brittle to the touch. None of the leaves shine. None of the flowers indicate that white ever exsisted. In fact, the 4 flowers are brown and spinly, no moisture present.  Dry leaves have been removed several times. I continue to water plant when soil is dry to the touch, but to no avail.  Yesterday as I was checking the base of one of the stalks, a piece of it easily came out of the soil without any force.  I have not noticed any insects but my once thriving plant looks horrible.  I don't know what to do any more.  HELP PLEASE!!!!

Answer
I'm not sure I can tell what went wrong with your Peace Lily, Mary, but I will try.

What really worries me is your comment that you can remove a stalk from the base with virtually no effort.  This plant sounds at this point like it's on its last legs.  Something has been wrong for some time.  Can it be revived?  Maybe.

Time to repot.

New soil from a new bag in a new pot.

Fast.

What kind of air has this plant been receiving?  If it was placed on a radiator or somewhere exposing it to extremes of heat and humidity, this is what would happen... eventually.

Brittle leaves sound like they are more than diseased.  They sound gone.

Ditto flowers.

A plant that flowers is usually healthy, happy, enjoying itself.  This was happening.

Did you leave this plant in someone else's care?  At any point this past winter?

Damage to the roots would take a while to show symptoms.  Since the damage is under the soil, shielded from view, it would be hard to detect until upper damage was showing up.

Doesn't sound like insects, especially if it's an indoor plant.  But Spider Mites could do major sweeping damage to leaves and would eventually destroy a plant.  Do you know what those look like?  They love dry humidity and heat, the kind you get in an East facing window in the winter.

Wash the leaves, especially underneath, and run out and get an empty spray bottle at the supermarket (maybe you have one left over from a spray bottle of Windex or Spray n Wash).  Mix up (gently to minimize bubbles) a solution of water and dishwashing soap and spray the leaves all over.  It's messy but you can just wash dishes after you're done, kill 2 birds w/ one stone.

Do this every single day.  And repot asap.  Make sure there are no more extremes in heat, moisture, humidity.  East window sounds great but something there is not a good idea.

My money's on Spider Mites and extremely low humidity.  I am most worried that you waited too long to write.  But better late than never.  If nothing else, you'll know next time.

By the way, if you have a Magnifying Glass handy, take a good look at the leaves before you spray-and-wash.  Anything moving?

Keep me posted.  Any questions, I'm here.