‘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.