This amazing lady passed today at 5:35am, November 10, 2019 peaceful and deserving of rest.  We will miss her.  She was a hero to us with the strength she showed raising her family after losing our Dad, LtC Walter Pritchard, on April 12, 1969 in the Vietnam War.  She moved us to McLean in 1970 and provided my brother John and me every opportunity in the world to succeed.  As a registered Nurse, Mom had a career that spanned from Bellevue Hospital in the 1950s in NYC to the store nurse for Bloomingdales at Tyson's Corner Mall in the 1980s and the Psychiatric Institute in Rockville, MD in the 1990s.  She married our stepdad, Captain Wayne Beech, in 1973 who also gave his life to our country passing from mesothelioma in 2011, an illness he picked up from his countless hours working in the Navy shipyards in San Diego and around the world.

Mom has battled ovarian cancer since early 2017 and fought like a champion and NEVER ONCE complained of her chemo treatments or the many many complications from the disease.  She is a hero to me for that and many other things.  I asked her recently what she had learned from this battle and she told me that she found out that she is stronger than she ever thought she was.  She should have known of course that she was unbelievably strong from all she endured in her 86 years and the type of silent American hero she was that we don't always talk about or consider, the hero spouse that is left behind alone after one of our warriors is lost in battle.

Mom definitely had things that bothered her and Washington DC traffic was at the top of that list.  A curse that I have inherited because we all know that our DC traffic has only gotten worse since Mom was driving the beltway in the 1980s.  But Mom, listen to me, the road is now clear for you - the traffic is gone and you have clean sailing ahead.  Green lights and a true easy pass ahead for you Mom!

From Mike and Rachel and John and all your grandkids and great-grandkids and the extended family that knew you and loved you - God Bless You Mom, all our love is with you forever!!!  We have lots of tears of pride falling for this lady today, Love You Mom!