Neil Edward Pritchard

He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Betty Joyce Pritchard (McManus), sons Christopher James Pritchard (Patricia) and David Edward-Robert Pritchard (Sarah), stepdaughters Bonna DeRolf (Brad), Lorraine Richstone, Jody Serrano, and Nanette Janulis (Tex), 12 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and numerous very dear extended family members. He is preceded in death by his father Robert Otis Pritchard, Sr., mother Shelia Edwards Pritchard, brother Robert Otis Pritchard, Jr., and daughter Janis Maria Robinson.

Neil is a decorated Korean War veteran, where he served in the 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon of E-Company, 23rd Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division from July 1951 through June 1952 and earned several distinctions, including the Combat Infantry Badge. He had previously served with the Michigan National Guard. He was also an active Veterans of Foreign Wars member and former Commander of his Naples Golden Gate Chapter VFW Post 7721.

Neil grew up in Detroit, MI where he graduated from Cooley High School and began a 20-year career with the Michigan Bell Telephone Company, starting as a draftsman and working up to management as a 2nd level Staff Supervisor. He moved his growing family out of the big city for a quieter life in Marquette, MI in 1968, hiring on with Northern Michigan University as Director of Organization and Systems.

Neil made bold decisions throughout his life in professional pursuits with the Army, Bell, the University, and a private consulting practice. However, winning a battle with colon cancer in 1986 inspired him to make perhaps the boldest choice yet, a late-life career change to his most rewarding and fulfilling profession: nursing. He graduated from nursing school at age 59 in Escanaba, MI and moved to Naples, FL in 1990 where he cared for the young and old and also met his future wife, Betty, a medical transcriptionist at the hospital where they worked.

He also nurtured a lifelong love for cars, hunting and the shooting sports, and advocacy for smaller government and preservation of personal liberty via Conservative politics. Neil was an avid listener of talk radio and faithful Rush Limbaugh “Dittohead” fan going all the way back to the program’s national inception in 1988. However, his most pervasive passion, aside from family and his Christian faith, was aviation. He was bitten early by the flying bug and logged over 3500 single-engine land/ski flight hours, earned ratings for Instrument, Instructor, and Commercial Pilot, and is a published point-to-point speed record holder. He was the proud flight instructor of his two sons, and saw them both through the rare accomplishment of completing their first solo flight on the exact day of their 16th birthdays, the minimum legal age to solo.

In lieu of flowers, those interested in paying respects are referred to a favorite charity of Neil’s, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit which provides very low overhead support to fallen First Responders’ and Gold Star families. Tunnel2towers.org