Obituary of Esther L. Prichett

Esther Prichett, 84, of Hollister passed away peacefully on Tuesday afternoon, December 17 in her home in Ridgemark, surrounded by loving family. Funeral services will be held at Hollister United Methodist Church, 521 Monterey Street in Hollister on Monday Dec 23rd at 2:00 pm with Pastor Karla Lundin officiating. A subsequent burial service is planned at her family plot in Pennsylvania. Grunnagle-Ament-Nelson Funeral Home will be arranging the funeral arrangements. *** Esther was born in Sayre, PA, the eldest child of Delos and Maude Tyler on September 26, 1935. She attended school in Meshoppen, PA and graduated in 1953. She matriculated at Drew University in Madison, NJ where she majored in economics, and in those courses, she met her future husband, John Prichett of Morristown, NJ. After graduation they married and raised a family of five children. After multiple career moves between New Jersey and Connecticut, Esther and John moved from Connecticut to Hollister where John commuted to work in Silicon Valley, first for IBM, then Amdahl. As the children grew up and left home, Esther was able to pursue her own interests. Upon arriving in Ridgemark, Esther’s passion for tennis drove her to form the Ridgemark Tennis Club over which she presided as President for many years and oversaw the installation of lighted courts and other comfortable amenities, making the local tennis scene more vibrant than it had ever been. She organized countless tournaments and hosted tennis celebrations of every description. During this time, she also pursued acting with the South County Community theatre. Well known for her having a wonderful singing voice, and no stranger to performing, Esther eventually made a splash having landed the starring role in a production of Hello Dolly! Community Pantry benefitted from Esther’s drive and determination when she became a member while it was in its initial stages of formation to distribute foodstuffs to needy families. She worked tirelessly to organize and source contributions leaving the fledgling non-profit organization in good stead. Having pursued a degree in law she was conferred her Juris Doctorate in 1988. Following graduation, she worked as an attorney for a number of years for the Monterey Victim Witness Assistance program, and then Hollister’s local counterpart. There Esther provided legal support to Hollister’s indigent and victims of domestic violence. She also participated in the Community Action Board and the Board of Hazel Hawkins Hospital. She joined and worked with the Rotary Club to organize events of local importance and including such courageous work as the AIDS Awareness Seminar. The content of this effort was later incorporated into the local high school curriculum. During this period of time, before the internet became widely known and accepted, Esther developed and offered the area its first local community bulletin board, a service called E’s Online which helped local Hollister residents to communicate over local dialup connections to exchange news and friendly conversations. She has been retired since 1999 following the death of her son. Esther is survived by her husband John and by her surviving children Alette Prichett of Hollister, Janice Prichett of Clifton Park, NY, Kelly Prichett of San Francisco, and Andrea Prichett of Berkeley, CA, her last remaining sibling, Rosemarie Tyler of Easton, Pennsylvania as well as numerous grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins. Esther was preceded in death by her son John Edward who died at the age of 33 in 1999. Memorial donations may be made to the successor of Community Pantry which is operating as the Community Food Bank of San Benito, 1133 San Felipe Road, Hollister, CA 95023. The family wishes to extend its heartfelt gratitude to the staff of the two Hollister Rehabilitation facilities who assisted Esther through her many weeks recovering from the fall that led to her eventual death four months later, Mabie Southside Skilled Nursing Facility and Mabie Northside Skilled Nursing Facility.