Gail Pritchard

Gail was born on August 26, 1944 in England to the late Ellis and Jean Bentham. She moved to the United States with her husband and children in 1977. She was very proud of gaining her US citizenship and was sure to cast her vote.

In her own words:

“Without doubt, I am most proud of having raised all three intelligent, independent, go-getting children, who have in turn raised the same in their children. However, I have a few other achievements. I have sewn, knitted, tatted and other things all my life. Made four wedding gowns, including my own, and several lovely christening gowns. I have also taught many young women to sew, and hopefully lit a spark of enthusiasm.”

Gail continued artistic endeavors throughout her life despite increasing challenges with pain and mobility, including a painting class at the Apex Senior Center this year.

Gail earned her B.S. degree from North Carolina Wesleyan in her forties, while working full-time. She was in charge of two major databases; one for the State of North Carolina prison service and one for the EPA (the National Air Quality database). She was instrumental locally in making sure that there were no date disasters when the new millennium rolled in, and told us that she was at the keyboard checking it out as the clock struck midnight.

She started her career at the beginning of the computer age, and wrote a small piece of code in 1965; an early building block for later word processing programs that alerted the computer when the typist ended a word.

Gail volunteered with the Daughters of the British Empire for more than 30 years, including serving on many boards. She helped bring a Laotian family to NC in the mid 1980s, went on to become certified as an ESL coach, and worked with migrant farm workers for several seasons. She had two projects with the American Sewing Guild that she was very proud of: In 2001, she helped make a quilted wall hanging that sold for many thousands of dollars as a fundraiser for the Jimmy V foundation; she also worked with the Hospice foundation with children who had lost parents, making memory pillows, for which Governor Hunt gave her a commendation.

In retirement, Gail enjoyed many trips and cruises around the world with her husband David, who was often in charge of pushing the wheelchair and carrying the shopping bags.

She is lovingly remembered by her husband of 58 years, David Pritchard; children, Sera Lewis (Chad), Vicky Earp (Hal), and Ewan Pritchard (Crystal); grandchildren, Brennan Lewis, Meghan Lewis (Adri), Logan Earp, Noah Earp, Kira Pritchard, Ellie Pritchard, and Ava Anderson.

A memorial service will be held at Highland United Methodist Church, Raleigh, NC on Friday, June 9th at 2PM. If you would like to make a memorial donation, the family suggests the Autoimmune Association (https://autoimmune.org/).

Fond memories and expressions of condolences can be shared online at apexfuneral.net for the Pritchard family.