April 25, 2024
About 30 guests from WMU leadership statewide gathered at the Baptist Missions and Ministry Center on Jan. 20 to celebrate Dorothy Pryor’s 90th birthday.
Pryor was legendary in her contribution to Georgia WMU, having served for more than three decades.
Those years of service were celebrated as much as her nine decades of life by guests from the WMU Executive Committee, State Endowment consultants, and the president of the WMU Foundation.
The Decatur native, who grew up in Central Baptist Church, distinguished herself at Judson College and eventually served with the Alabama WMU. She later became Young Woman’s Auxiliary director for Georgia WMU and later director of the Woman’s Missionary Society. She was named state WMU executive director in 1963 and served until retirement in 1991.
Intending to serve in international missions, possibly in China, she instead became a missions proponent in her homeland. Her extensive travels took her to mission fields in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and throughout the U.S.
She has written teaching guides, mission study books, and entries for the Dictionary of Georgia Biography and The Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists.
The Liberian Baptist Seminary announced in 1991 that it would name a portion of its campus the Dorothy Pryor Compound in recognition of her many years of encouragement and support. One of Georgia Baptists’ earliest partnerships was with the African nation.
She has most recently been active in Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta, where she was awarded the Bruce Batho Award in 1999 in recognition of her outstanding lay leadership. She is a deacon at the church.
Contact Georgia WMU/WEM at (770) 936-5324 or 1 (800) 746-4422, ext. 324 for more information on how to honor Pryor with a gift to the Capital Campaign for Pinnacle Retreat Center.
