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Jack William Pritchard was diagnosed with bladder cancer in July of 2019 and after a series of illnesses contracted pneumonia and passed away in Tucson, Arizona on Jan. 14, 2020. He was 96 years old.
Mr. Pritchard was born on June 11, 1923 in Cambridge, New York to John Pritchard and Violet Filer. He was the fourth of nine siblings in a large family, four brothers and three sisters. Raised around Easton and Greenwich areas of Washington County in upstate New York. Mr. Pritchard lived a long life and had a long career.
Before World War II Jack held several jobs from being a shoe cobbler to working with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), to baking. After the the event of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 he and two brothers ran away from home and enlisted to serve their country. Jack Pritchard enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 27, 1941 from Albany, New York.
Mr. Pritchard served in the Navy as a Baker 3rd Class. He was attending Chief Commissary School in San Diego, California when he received an Honorable Discharge from the Navy on Oct. 1, 1945. After the Navy, he worked for Consolidated Aircraft in the mid- to late-1940s.
By the mid- to late-1950s, Jack Pritchard became a News Agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He eventually became a Carpenter in the Bridge and Building Department of Southern Pacific Railroad and helped build and repair many of the railroad bridges throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and California.
Mr. Pritchard came to settle by 1962 in Benson, Arizona where he worked for the Town of Benson and Apache Powder. He also began volunteering with the Police Department of Benson, Arizona during this time. In 1970 Jack became a Deputy Sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona.
He brought his family to San Manuel, Arizona in 1971 where he worked as a Machinist with Magma Copper Company retiring in the mid- to late-1980s. By 1975 he was a Deputy Sheriff in Florence, Arizona and as a volunteer became the Reserve Police Chief of Mammoth, Arizona. He served 14 years with the Mammoth Police Department. In 1978 he also volunteered as an Ambulance Attendant through the Arizona Corporation Commission. He has served his community through volunteering to unload trucks, delivering food, and playing Santa Clause.
Jack Pritchard was the last surviving member of his family. Preceding him in death are his parents, John Pritchard and Violet Filer; brother, Willis Pritchard; sister, Cleo Pritchard; brother, Ashley Pritchard; brother, Roger Pritchard; sister, Dorothy Harrington; sister, Marcia Noon; brother, Paul Pritchard; and brother, Edward Pritchard. Also preceding him in death are two children from a previous marriage, Marcos Juan Pritchard and Maria Catalina Pritchard.
Surviving Mr. Pritchard are his wife, Frances Pritchard; two daughters from a previous marriage, Maria Socorro Rivera and Maria Euginia Leyva, both of California; children, Christine Hester of Tucson, Karen Badia of Snowflake, Sharon Boyden of Texas, Ashley Pritchard of Mammoth, Lisa Clark of Utah, and Wesley Pritchard of Tucson, Arizona. In addition to his many children, Jack Pritchard is survived by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Private services have been planned.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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