Christina Pryor

A native of Australia, Tina, as she was known to all who loved her, grew up in the bush of Kilsyth. From the moment she was able to read, she developed a love for literature that became one of the driving passions of her life. She often spoke of cutting school to go to the library to read and research topics she was curious about. As a young woman, she babysat, harvested fruit, and worked at a dime store. Her compassion for others led her, at the age of 16, to begin training as a nurse at a local psychiatric hospital. It was here that she learned about the living conditions for the most vulnerable among us, knowledge which would eventually direct the course of her life. Tina saw that the patients she worked with lacked a deciding voice in their own lives, and she became determined to change that for the better.

During this time, Tina was awarded a government scholarship to become an elementary school teacher. While in school, Tina managed a bookstore, a place she loved dearly. From 1964 to 1967, she left home to travel throughout her home country, Australia, performing in small local theatre groups and giving poetry readings. This experience was the origin of Tina’s continued agitation for direct political action, particularly in the area of women’s rights. Political and social change would come to occupy the rest of her life: Everywhere she went, she made people’s lives better.

In 1968, Tina married and emigrated to California. Although it was an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar country, she quickly began to build her life there, attending Long Beach Island University as a Theatre Arts major. She became active in the student movements against the Vietnam War and for women’s and Black Liberation. In 1971, Tina moved to New York City and began working as a paralegal for the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1975, she gave birth to her first son, Jeffrey Pryor. She continued to serve those in need by working at the Division of Public Health, eventually becoming a field representative for the Public Advocates Office. Here, Tina played a pivotal role in a landmark case protecting the rights of psychiatric patients.

Tina moved to Vineland, a rural farm community in southwestern New Jersey, where she gave birth to her second son, Justin Pryor, in 1979. In 1984, she became the Deputy Director of Rural Opportunities, which provided representation and advocacy to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Tina also became certified as a grant writer, and wrote grants for the Comite Apoyo de los Trabajadores Agricolas (Agricultural Workers Support Committee), an independent farmworkers union. Tina later worked for Easter Seals, developing a skills program specific to disabled populations. She was later offered a position with the New Jersey Commissioner of Human Services, where she oversaw the maintenance of treatment standards in psychiatric hospitals and institutions for the developmentally disabled.

With her family, Tina moved to Ocean City, NJ, where she began as the Assistant Family Division Manager of the Superior Court of New Jersey overseeing all of family court. In this period, she oversaw the implementation of the 1990 Domestic Violence Act, here she assisted in the development of a state model to bring awareness to the need for violence prevention and services for women. Tina was then invited to participate in the New Jersey Task Force on Domestic Violence to help draft and pass legislation. In 1993 she returned to Rural Opportunities as a Regional Administrator, later becoming the Deputy Director of Operations. Tina ended her career working with unhoused people at Jewish Family Services and the mentally ill at The Mental Health Association of Atlantic County. She later volunteered at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). She spent her entire life supporting, advocating, and being a voice for the voiceless. She touched many lives through her empathy, her drive for justice, and her unwavering devotion to fight for what is right.

In addition to her many accomplishments, Tina was an avid gardener, art collector, and story teller. Her oceanfront home was filled with elegant cookware, rare books, and the thriving houseplants she fostered with the warmth and care she showed to everyone she met. She loved all things Bob Dylan and was a talented, passionate cook. “She would make whole chickens in terra cotta pots,” her son Justin recalls. “She would start them in a cold oven, stuff them with herbs, and lace the under-skin with butter. She didn’t count calories when we were younger.” If you were privileged enough to have her cook for you, it was surely the best meal you ever had.

Tina is predeceased by her parents, Ngira (Gooligulch, New Zealand) and David Stewart (King Lake, Australia), her brother Allan Stewart (Fern Tree Gully, Australia), and her son Jeffrey Pryor (Atlantic City, NJ). She is survived by her son Justin Pryor, daughter-in-law Natalie Pryor, their children Lenin and Aeneas Pryor (Galloway, NJ), and her grandchildren Taylor and Jackson Weber, (Absecon, NJ), her sisters Barbara McNaulty (Victoria, Australia) and Linda Stewart (Victoria, Australia), her niece Phoebe Thomas (Victoria, Australia), nephews Simon Brondolino and wife, Allie, (Victoria, Australia) Charlie Brondolino and wife, Rebecca (Canberra, Australia), Ben Stewart and wife, Kelly, (Victoria, Australia), Adam Stewart (Victoria, Australia), and Darren Stewart.

Services will be held March 9, 2024 at Blake-Doyle Funeral Home:

226 Collings Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

Visitation 11:00 am; Service 12:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Amnesty International.