Catherine Dussel Pritchard

Catherine Dussel Pritchard, 91, died Friday, July 12, 2013, at Hinkle Hospice House. The funeral will be 3 p.m. Sunday July 14, 2013, at First Baptist Church, where she was a member, with the Rev. Dr. Ray Howell 3rd officiating. Burial will follow in Lexington City Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 2 to 3 p.m. prior to the service in the church parlor. Mrs. Pritchard was born April 30, 1922, in Columbus, Ohio. She was one of four children born to Amy Snook and Frank Dussel. The depression years of the 30’s were difficult and her mother couln’t run the farm alone with four small children, a disabled husband, and an ill grandmother. She heard about an orphanage for children of war veterans and received an application. Catherine, her brother, Frank, and her sister, Margaret were sent to the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphanage. The youngest sibling, Carolyn stayed on the farm. Catherine loved the orphanage and did various things there. She was on the rifle team, did acrobatics, learned to swim and dive, cook and sew. She had to clean cottages and graduated from the orphanage trained as a secretary and immediately found a job. She married Harvey Mallory and out of this union came two children, Linda and Doug Pritchard. They divorced and she later married Howard Pritchard in 1951. Cathy Powell and Steve Pritchard came out of this union. She was active in many things. She swam and dove off the high board on her hands at Hillside Pool and in the Senior Olympics. She also ran the one hundred meter dash several years and set a state record that has stood since 1996. Every year after the Senior Olympics she would enter the Crop Walk. She was an active Christian in First Baptist Church of Lexington. At her church she was president of her Sunday school class for several years. She regularly visited friends and neighbors and brought joy to all who knew her. In addition to her parents Catherine was preceded in death by her husband, Howard Pritchard; and a sister, Margaret Dean. Surviving are sons, Steve Pritchard of Lexington and Douglas Pritchard of Statesville; daughters, Linda Pritchard and Cathy Powell; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a sister, Carolyn Conrad; brother, Frank Dussel. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Lexington, P.O. Box 436, Lexington, NC 27293; or Hinkle Hospice House, 200 Hospice Way, Lexington, NC 27292.