Mary Brown Pryor Md

PRYOR, Mary Brown MD, died on June 20, 2007 at the Hospice of Dayton. Dr. Pryor was born in 1924 to the Rev. Ralph and Mrs. Phyllis Perrin Brown in Buckhannon, West Virginia, where her father was professor of Philosophy and Bible Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. A graduate of the Buckhannon-Upshur County public schools and West Virginia Wesleyan, she was one of the earliest women students at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. She later told family and friends that when she had applied, she was asked why they should admit her, since she would just 'get married and have children and quit' practicing medicine. Notwithstanding that question, Dr. Pryor was admitted to the program, completing it in 1951, one of two women among the 27 graduating students. Because that program was, at the time, a 2 year program, Dr. Pryor completed her medical education at the Virginia College of Medicine, graduating in 1953 as one of only 9 women in a class of 94. After completing her internship at Cincinnati General Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Pryor joined her brother, David Brown, M.D. in private practice in Troy, Ohio for several years, where she was introduced to her husband, Richard E. Pryor, then a young attorney and Marine Corps reservist from Dayton. After marrying Mr. Pryor in 1956, Dr. Pryor gave birth to two sons, Richard and Lawrence, and in 1961 relocated to Dayton with her family. She then partially fulfilled the prediction she had heard when she applied to medical school, leaving private practice for several years in order to tend to her family. During that time, though, she was an active volunteer, serving on the board of the local camp for children with juvenile diabetes, Camp Ko-Man-She, and as President of the Dayton Widows Home. As her children grew, Dr. Pryor once again began practicing medicine, one of the many ways in which she served the public. She became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Wright State University School of Medicine in 1978, where she taught until her retirement in 1990. She was appointed to serve on the Oakwood City Council in 1976, and she served for 14 consecutive years as a Council member, as well as Vice-Mayor during part of her tenure. During that time, Dr. Pryor also worked tirelessly to create a special program to meet the medical needs of adolescents in the Dayton area, a group she thought was underserved. She achieved that goal in 1993, with the inauguration of the Adolescent Wellness Center, founded by a coalition of local hospitals and the Wright State University School of Medicine. Dr. Pryor was also a long-time supporter of Planned Parenthood and its goal of providing quality health care to women, serving in various positions with that organization over the last 20 years. In fact, in this new century, Dr. Pryor acted as Interim Medical Director of the Montgomery County chapter of Planned Parenthood for a year and a half, from September 2003 until her 81st birthday in March 2005. Dr. Pryor also served for many years on the United Theological Seminary Board of Trustees. Dr. Pryor was the recipient of many honors during her long career, including being named by the Dayton Daily News as one of Dayton's Top 10 Women in 1979, receiving a Woman of Influence Award from the YWCA in 2002, the Rotary Club of Oakwood's Civic Leadership Award in 2002, and the Wright State School of Medicine Service Award in 1990. Most recently, Dr. Pryor was named as a Living Legend of Medicine last November by the West Virginia University School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Pryor was preceded in death by her husband Richard in 2005. She is survived by her sister, Ellen Lou Aulds of Kettering; two sons, Richard (Elizabeth Smith-Pryor), of Kent, Ohio, and Lawrence (Lisa), of Providence, Rhode Island; and four grandchildren, Richard, Grace, Arden and Avery Pryor. There will be a memorial service honoring her life and work held at 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 33 W. Dixon Ave., Oakwood. Her family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Dr. Mary and Richard Pryor Endowed Scholarship Fund at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Advancement Office, 3640 Col. Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435; these scholarships support women candidates enrolled in that medical school who plan to specialize in the area of primary care. Family will receive friends following the memorial service at the Dayton Country Club. For condolences and other remembrances please visit the Routsong website at www.routsong.com.