Dorothy Marion Pryor a retired executive director of the Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) of Georgia, died March 12. She was 98.
Pryor served Georgia WMU for 36 years, 28 of those as executive director. She joined the staff in 1955 and retired in 1991.
A native of Decatur, Alabama, Pryor graduated from Judson College in Marion, Alabama; and Carver School of Missions and Social Work (which later merged with Southern Seminary). She is the recipient of three honorary doctorates, from Judson, Tift College and Mercer University.
She served as a trustee for the Georgia Baptist Healthcare System, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, Baptist Meriwether Hospital, Baptist North Hospital and Georgia Baptist Healthcare Foundation. She served as an officer of the national WMU Foundation, vice president of the executive board of the Macedonian Call Foundation, vice president of the Andrew P. Stewart Center Board of Directors, chair of the board of advisors of Judson College, chair of the board of visitors of Mercer University’s Georgia Baptist College of Nursing and was a member of the board of visitors of McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University.
During her 36 years of service with WMU, she visited missions sites throughout the United States and in 40 countries.
She was raised in Central Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama. In Atlanta, she had been a member of Second Ponce DeLeon Baptist and First Baptist of Decatur (Georgia). She joined Wieuca Road Baptist Church in 1970 where she served on various committees, taught Sunday School and was elected its first female deacon in 1979.
Visitation will be at A. S. Turner Funeral Home in Decatur, Georgia from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 15. A second visitation will be at Roselawn Funeral Home in Decatur, Alabama, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 18, followed by a graveside service at 11:30 a.m. at the Decatur City Cemetery, Decatur, Alabama. A celebration of life service is set for 2 p.m. on April 13 at The Church at Wieuca.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Baptist WMU of Georgia, 4295 Brogdon Exchange, Suwanee, GA 30024 for the Camp Pinnacle Capital Campaign; the WMU Foundation, 100 Missionary Ridge, Birmingham, AL 35242 for the Kate Ellen Gruver Endowment Fund; the June Whitlow Endowment Fund; or The Church at Wieuca, 3626 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30326.
