‘A kind, sweet woman’

Gary Moskowitz

GLENDALE -- Alys Pryor wanted to see all the cathedrals in the world.

When she and her husband, Harry, traveled to Europe, they would seek out

cathedrals in countries like Spain, Italy, England and Germany. Often

times, Alys would know more about cathedrals than the tour guides.

Alys, who lived with her husband in Glendale for 70 years, died

Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, at her home in Glendale. She was born in 1903 in

Batesville, Ark.

Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Monday at the La Canada

Presbyterian Church, 626 Foothill Blvd. in La Canada Flintridge.

At this year’s Glendale Old-Timers Picnic, Alys and Harry were awarded

the Old-Timers Assn.’s Community Service Award for their participation in

philanthropic and civic organizations over the years. Alys was a

co-founder of the Glendale Guidance Clinic, the Glendale Visiting Nurses

Assn. and the Glendale Community Foundation, and was a Niscience elder.

“I miss her so,” Harry said. “She was a kind, sweet woman who never

spoke a mean word.”

It may have been love at first sight when Alys sat up in the balcony

watching Harry audition as a yell leader for the student rooting section

at USC in 1921. A sorority that wanted Alys to join invited her to a

party that night, but it wasn’t until she heard Harry Pryor was going to

the party that she agreed to go.

“We danced that whole evening, and our whole life,” Harry said.

After a honeymoon spent driving up the coast through the old

switchbacks and a stay at La Venta Inn in Pacific Palisades, Alys and

Harry built their first home in Glendale in 1930.

Alys loved houses and worked with decorators and architects to make

sure her home was just right.

“She was very clever,” Harry said. “She loved to read, enjoyed opera

and loved her gardening. There were always roses and other flowers in the

house.”

In 1997, Alys and Harry celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with

a family dinner at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale. The whole family

got together to celebrate and get out Alys’s wedding dress.

“It was quite an occasion,” said Harry. “She loved her dress.”

The Pryors raised their children in Glendale and have always been

happy to call Glendale home. They fell in love with north Glendale and

considered the Oakmont Country Club a second home.

Surviving family members include Harry; daughters, Peggy and her

husband Tom Perry, and Sally and her husband Bob McClure; grandsons,

Dave, Bruce and his wife Colette, Steve and his wife Ajano, and Brian and

his wife DeDe; granddaughters, Diane and her husband Mark Monreal, Margie

McClure, Judy and her husband Kent Carlson, and Katy and her husband

Randy Benefield; and 11 great-grandchildren.