Remembering my Father

My father Edgar Allen Prichard (1920-2000), who is shown at left with his younger brother Ben, was born and spent most of his youth in Brockton, Montana, a small town in Northeastern part of the state located on the Fort Peck Reservation. Fort Peck is home to Assiniboine, Nakoda, and Dakota peoples, but also of some people of European American background. My grandfather, who was a jack-of-all-trades and something of a scoundrel, had moved to Brockton in order to operate a one-man coal mine; he lost interest in the project and left the area leaving his wife and two sons in Brockton.

My father left Montana for college in Oklahoma and service in World War II and settled after the war ended in Virginia, which was my mother’s home. His early experience on Fort Peck, however, gave him a lasting interest in Native American culture and made him a long-time supporter of various small scale projects designed to enhance the life of Native Americans. I suspect that some of his enthusiasm and interest passed on to me.

Bob Prichard