Mary Catherine (Black) Pritchard

Mary was born on June 11, 1924, in Kingston, Ontario, daughter of Dr. Neil Black and Kathleen Ryan. She was raised on the grounds of a state psychiatric hospital in upstate New York where her father was a staff psychiatrist. She returned to Kingston to attend Queen’s University and graduated in Arts 1946. There she met and married a geologist, Oryn Pritchard. They lived in the Sudbury District, Ontario, where she raised five sons. Mary was always involved in her community and held leadership positions in the University Women’s Club, YMCA, Canadian Association for Community Living, Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, and IODE Canada. She also taught Sunday School and sang in the church choir. In 1969 she moved to Oakville, Ontario, where she became a Reference Librarian at the Oakville Public Library until her retirement in 1981. She then returned to Kingston where she was an active member of the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club for golf, curling, and bridge, and she loved bird watching with the Kingston Field Naturalists. She volunteered at a local hospital and after 20 years was awarded a Provincial Life Membership in the Hospital Auxiliaries Association of Ontario. She and Oryn wintered in Naples, Florida, where they golfed, bird watched, volunteered at professional golf events, and were field guides at Corkscrew Sanctuary. Mary moved to Toronto in 2013, and, as her Dunfield Residence friends know well, she loved the outdoors and walked outside every day, rain or shine, right until the day before her passing on July 8, 2019. She is survived by 4 sons, Doug (Jane), Rob (Joan), Steve (Kathy) and Brian (Jan), 10 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren, who miss her dearly. She often quoted Bette Davis who said, “Getting old ain’t for sissies,” and Mary was no sissy. May she rest in peace.