Rebekah Barnhardt Kirkman Pritchett

PRITCHETT Rebekah Barnhardt Kirkman Pritchett -March 6, 1927-October 12, 2012. Favorite educator, artist, award-winning poet and creative spirit, Rebekah Barnhardt Kirkman Pritchett, 85, of Thomaston, Alabama, passed away October 12, 2012 in the Vaughan Regional Medical Center, Selma, Alabama. A memorial service will be at 6 p.m., Thursday, October 18, 2012 at the Thomaston United Methodist Church, Thomaston, Alabama, with the Reverend Dunford C. Cole and Reverend Randall Mims officiating. A native of Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, Becky-as she was called by family, friends and grandchildren-was the daughter of the late Bernard Worth and Kate Hunt Kirkman of Pleasant Garden. A graduate of Pleasant Garden High School at age 16, she attended Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and received a Bachelor's of Arts degree from Judson College in Marion, Alabama, and then a Master's degree in English from Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. During World War II, her college roommate introduced Becky to the well-mannered second lieutenant, James E. Pritchett, a fellow Alabamian temporarily stationed in Greensboro before deployment to England. She and Jim were married August 25, 1945. Becky was on the faculty at Linden High School, and most recently retired from Marengo Academy, Linden, Alabama, where she taught English, speech, art, drama, and Spanish. Becky brought excitement to teaching, encouragement to students and a creative approach that made the mundane interesting. She had a way of capturing children's imaginations, taking them to see a real wardrobe as they read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, and entertaining her students when they found her on the classroom floor "sizzling and popping," acting like bacon in the frying pan. She was a past board member of the Alabama Rural Heritage Society, Thomaston, Alabama, and the Marengo County Historical Society in Demopolis, Alabama. She was a long-time member of the Thomaston United Methodist Church, the Study Club in Linden, Alabama, and past president of Delta Kappa Gamma-Upsilon chapter, a professional honorary society of women educators. She is survived by her loving husband of sixty-seven years, James Evant Pritchett, Sr., five children, eight grandchildren, six great-grand children, four siblings and delighted in being "Aunt Becky" to over two-dozen nieces and nephews. Children are James E., Jr. and Paula Pritchett of Foley, Alabama, Amy Worth Pritchett of Jacksonville, Florida, Anna Gould Pritchett and Donald Gordon of Trussville, Alabama, Lora Hunt Pritchett and Randall Holcombe of Tallahassee, Florida, and David Kirkman Pritchett of Thomaston, Alabama. Memorial contributions may be made to Marengo County Public Library, Children's Memorial Book Fund-Rebekah K. Pritchett, 210 N. Shiloh Street, Linden, AL 36748, Joyce Morgan, 334-295-2246, marengocounty933@bellsouth.net, and to Delta Kappa Gamma-Upsilon Chapter, Rebekah K. Pritchett Memorial Scholarship, Attn: Leigh Griffith, Treasurer, 402 W. 5th Avenue, Linden AL 36748.