Grandfather Ted McDaniel, famous Monongah streetcar stationmaster;
Grandmother Adrian McDaniel, Uncle Jim McDaniel, and mother Mary Jane Pritchard

Oh, mein papa!

Jane “Nene” Pritchard Moore, Class of 1975, reminds us that parents remain alive as long as they are in your hearts and memories:

“47 years ago today, my father, John Charles Pritchard, was called home to Heaven. I was 11, Beth was 8 and Jonna was turning 7 the next day.

“He was only 42 years old. He worked for Western Maryland Railroad and was killed in a train accident. I was the last one to talk to him.

“I was always tagging along with him and 'helping' him doing jobs around the house. I still remember the pain and shock I felt realizing that he was gone. Life definitely changed for all of us that day. I never felt like a child again.

“My only consolation is in knowing he was a wonderful Christian man who was loved by all who knew him. I will see you again, dad, when we are united in Heaven. Until then, watch over us and know that we love you and still miss you all these years later.

“R.I.P, dad.”

What a beautiful tribute from a daughter.  I hope I get one as eloquent 47 years after I join my wife, Monnie, in Northlawn Memorial Gardens in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where there’s a “WV” under each of our names on the double grave marker.

Pritchard sisters Beth, Jonna and Nene

John Pritchard

Nene is an LPN at Pediatrics Associates. Her sisters are Jonna Pritchard Barnett, who was in the first graduation class at North Marion in 1980 after going to Monongah High for three years, married to Shinnston High grad Brad Barnett for more than three decades; and Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978, who lives on Harter Hill in Worthington when she doesn’t join husband Rick Brooks in his conveyor system projects around the country.

Their mother was Mary Jane McDaniel Pritchard, daughter of the famous Ted McDaniel, Monongah Streetcar Stationmaster.