Brenda Earle Pryor of Greenwood, Arkansas, 75, was born to Earl and Blanche Oliver Pryor on November 21, 1946 and died January 26, 2022 in Charleston. Brenda lived an extraordinary life filled with the family she treasured, friends, colleagues and students at home and around the world, who always will value their time with her.
Brenda loved to laugh, learn, and loved to teach. She always lived with a determination to do good which came from her parents and her faith in God.
She attended Greenwood schools and graduated in 1964 from Greenwood High School. She continued her education at Westark (now UAFS) and State College of Arkansas (now UCA), graduating with degrees in education and special education.
Her first post-college work was in 1968 at the Bost School in Fort Smith, a school where her sister Jane was a student.
In 1970, Brenda began to work with the Department of Defense, teaching special education at bases around the world. From 1970 to 1975, Brenda taught in the Azores Islands near Portugal. She transferred to Cuba in 1976 for a one-year placement. In 1977, Brenda came home to teach in the Greenwood Public School System she loved, and worked there until 1981. In the summers of 1980 and 1981, she worked at resettling Cuban refugees housed at Fort Chaffee.
In 1981, she returned to the Department of Defense, teaching in Reykjavik, Iceland her favorite posting. Brenda made friends and taught there until 1997. She loved to share stories of her time and adventures in Iceland. But, in 1995, Brenda was diagnosed with leukemia and She came home to the States for treatment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. After her transplant (with Beth Bennett’s bone marrow 1st time & stem cell 2nd time) and bolstered by the support of caregivers, family and friends, Brenda was able to return to Iceland for a time, but retired back to Greenwood in 1997.
In 2000, Brenda fought yet another battle with leukemia and returned to Seattle and Portland, Oregon, for treatment. After a stem cell transplant, she went back into remission having earned the all-time Wonder Woman Trophy for her cheerful and determined recovery.
Despite her health challenges, Brenda was a dedicated volunteer, working with the Cancer Support House in Fort Smith, the Red Cross, and in political campaigns for Democratic candidates.
She loved her family; she loved the Greenwood Church of Christ; and she loved and treasured her lifetime friends, GHS classmates of 1964, students and colleagues.
Brenda Pryor is survived by two sisters and their husbands, Linda and Charles Durham of Charleston and Beth and Tommy Bennett of Spearsville, Louisiana; three nieces, Cindy Humphrey and husband Phillip of Charleston, Carolyn Riechmann and husband Ben of Charleston, and Evelyn Bennett and fiancée Michael McCarty of Birmingham, Alabama; two great-nieces, Ruby Swanson of Fayetteville and Breanna Riechmann of Charleston; three great-nephews, Lee, Zeke and wife Jackie Swanson and Perry Humphrey, all of Charleston; one aunt, Joy Edwards of Fort Smith; and a host of loving cousins, many lifetime friends, too many to name, but she would want to remember Villi Steinthorsson, of Iceland but now at home in Edmonds, Washington, and David and Karen Leslie Hopkins who made her time in Seattle feel like home.
Brenda is predeceased by her parents, Earl and Blanche Pryor, her sister Jane, and a niece Michaela Bennett of Spearsville, Louisiana.
Visitation will be at the Greenwood Church of Christ on Saturday, February 12, at 1:00 p.m. followed by the memorial service at 2:00 p.m. under the direction of McConnell Funeral Home.
Memorial gifts can be made to the Greenwood Church of Christ, P.O. Box 251 Greenwood AR 72936, Bost Foundation Inc, P.O. Box 11495, Fort Smith, AR 72917 or Greenhurst Nursing Home Activities, P.O. Box 458, Charleston, AR 72933 or a charity of your choice.
To sign an online guestbook, please visit www.mcconnellfh.com.
