In Memoriam: Helen Pryor

I've recently discovered that several religious traditions take care to commemorate the date of the death of a loved one. Helen K. Pryor, my mother, died on this date in 2007. Below you can read from her obituary:

Helen K. (Knepper) Pryor, 86, passed away on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at Sentara Nursing Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Helen was born on November 24, 1920, just a few minutes before midnight and thus a day before her twin sister Harriet, who arrived 20 minutes later. She was born at home on the farm of her parents, Charles and Florence (Shaver) Knepper, in rural Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Helen grew up on the farm and helped her older brothers, Ned, Joel, David, Don, and Robert, with milking and other farm work. Her mother passed away when Helen was quite young and her older sisters, Anita, Edyth, and Phyllis, did much to raise her before her father remarried. Helen graduated from Hustontown High School in the spring of 1938 and later that year moved to the Radnor [Pennsylvania] area, where she lived with her older sister Phyllis and went to the Homewood Training School for Nurses. During World War II she was involved with the USO with Horace Pryor's stepmother, through whom she met her future husband. Helen and Horace were married on June 1, 1946, and lived in or around Radnor until 2005. They moved to Virginia Beach in May of 2006.

During her married life Helen was a homemaker, mother of two children, bookkeeper, and all-around office manager for Horace's businesses. Helen and Horace owned the Horace Pryor Co. in Wayne until they retired. They were very involved with several Presbyterian churches over the course of their lives and joined Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr shortly after its inception. Helen enjoyed growing houseplants, watching birds, and combing the beach for interesting shells at their place on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Nothing delighted her more than watching her grandchildren. She experienced many of the typical infirmities of growing older but remained mentally sharp by working crossword puzzles and reading novels. Her health took a turn for the worse in early January 2007 and she passed away peacefully on the afternoon of April 12.