On Saturday, March 6, 2021, Patrick Calvin Pritchard (April 3, 1950 - March 6, 2021), Wesleyan Professor Emeritus of Education, passed away in his sleep at his home in Macon, Georgia. He had spent the previous day surrounded by friends, family, and music.
Students in Wesleyan’s Education Department had the privilege of learning from Pat for more than twenty years, until his retirement in May 2019. The profound impact he had on so many people is clear within beautiful tributes from family, friends, colleagues, students, and alumnae. Comments include, “the things he taught me have lasted a lifetime.” “I wonder if he could ever know what an elixir his life of encouragement and joy was and will be to those who knew him, and the change he made in the world one heart at a time.” “You loved and were deeply loved.” “By the end of my senior year he was beyond a mentor, he was my friend.”
Pat was honored in 2002 with The Quillian Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2011 with The United Methodist Church Exemplary Teacher Award. He founded Wesleyan’s Music in the Arboretum program and Wolves in the Woods Week, and co-founded the Annual Pioneer Fest, the Annual Arboretum Fundraiser Concert, and the Storytelling Festival which ran for eighteen consecutive years. He also served as co-director of Wesleyan’s Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (Ga TAPP). During commencement exercises in May 2019, Provost Melody Blake bestowed upon Pritchard the honor of Professor Emeritus. He is one of only nine Wesleyan faculty members to receive this honor.
Dr. Virginia Bowman Wilcox ’90, friend and colleague, said, “Pat’s reach goes far, wide, and deep across the many students lucky enough to have had him for a class. His impact on the kinds of teachers they've become cannot be denied. His passion, humor, and loyalty will live on in those who knew him and loved him best.”
Read Pat’s obituary here.
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