Aletha Viola Prichard

Prichard, Aletha Viola Cordell Zogelman, who was a pillar of her family and community, passed away on Friday, July 20, 2012 at her home in St. Mark, Kansas. Happiest around family, Aletha was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchild, and other family and friends when she passed away of congestive heart failure in the very farm house where she was born. She was 75. Known as “Lightning” because she was a fast and hard worker around the farm with chores, she was also quick to laugh and smile. Aletha loved to chat with just about everyone and won friends wherever she went. Aletha met her first husband, Donald Lee Zogelman, when they both attended Andale High School. Don passed away due to Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) in 1967. Aletha was introduced to her second husband, James Robert Prichard, when they were both working at St. Francis Hospital. Aletha was a nurse at St. Francis for many years and retired after serving as the head nurse for the SICU unit in 2003. Aletha was preceded in death by her father, Elmer Joseph, mother Hyacinth Emma, brothers Freddy and Cecil Matias, and husbands Donald Lee Zogelman and James Robert Prichard. She is survived by a large extended family including her brother James Marcus (Janet), her sister Jacqueline Neigenfind (Gene), her sister Barbara Bernadette Cranor (James, “Gene”), her children June Mary Hastert, Shamone Sue Weber, Gaylea Prichard-Silvers (Brant), Robert Joseph Prichard (Lisa), Joy Lynn Hoofer (Steven), thirteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Rosary will be held at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in St. Mark, Kansas on Monday, July 23 at 7pm. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mark Church on Tuesday, July 24 at 10:30am. In lieu of flowers, donations in honor of Aletha may be made to the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University [www.alscenter.org or Milan Karol, Development Officer, 5801 Smith Avenue, McAuley Suite 110, Baltimore, MD, 21209; 410-516-6248; milan.karol@jhmi.edu] or St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in St. Mark, Kansas.