Dorothy Davis Pruden died peacefully on Wednesday August 4, 2010. She was 81 years old.
The daughter of Alice Kirkbride and Glen Meredith Davis, she was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1950, and married William H. Pruden II shortly thereafter. A dedicated homemaker and devoted mother, she put her economics degree to work serving as treasurer of countless organizations in the Ridgewood, New Jersey area, including the Junior Women’s Club.
A devoted Wellesley alum, she was active in the local Wellesley club serving in a variety of posts, and also served as an alumnae admissions interviewer for years. As a member of the alumni council she relished the opportunities she had to return to the campus for reunions and other alumni gatherings.
She served for over a decade on the non-partisan Board of Education in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, three times winning re-election. She also was active in the New Jersey Republican Party, at one time serving as a local county committee woman.
She summered at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts for decades and was no less active in that venue serving as the treasurer of the East Chop Tennis Club on the island.
She is survived by her son, William H. Pruden, III and his wife Caroline of Raleigh North Carolina, her son Robert M. Pruden and his wife Deborah of Glendale, California, her daughter Margaret Kirkpatrick and her husband Thomas of Arlington, Massachusetts, her daughter Patricia Pruden-Lennox and her husband David Lennox of Medway, Massachusetts, and grandchildren, William H. Pruden IV of Glendale, California and Cathleen Anne Pruden, Andrew William Pruden, Mary Clare Pruden, and John Patrick Pruden of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The family wishes to express its gratitude to the Willows of Westborough for the care and compassion provided to Dorothy in her final years.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Wellesley College, Office of Development, 106 Central St., Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481 and/or the East Chop Association, P.O. Box 1916, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.
A memorial service will be held at the East Chop Tennis Club on Martha’s Vineyard, a place she dearly loved, on Saturday, September 4 at 5:30.