Mary Elizabeth (Openhosky) Pringle

Mary Elizabeth Openhosky was born in Mineola on Long Island, New York, to Joseph Openhosky and Helen Kowalesky on April 27, 1935. She graduated from the Brooklyn School of Nursing in 1955. She married Loyal D. (Dean) Pringle on April 19, 1958, in Roslyn on Long Island, NY. They resided in Louisville, KY, for most of their lives, where they raised five daughters, eventually welcoming grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

During Mary and Dean’s early years of marriage and parenthood, Mary was a Lamaze method leader, teaching countless pregnant couples the prepared childbirth technique championed by Lamaze from the basement of their home. She also led La Leche League classes, promoting breastfeeding with many of the same couples. Dean had meticulously finished the basement for classes and entertaining by repurposing a coworker’s old barn in Southern Indiana.

Her continuing medical career included acquiring a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing in 1977 from Spalding College in Louisville, KY; an OB-GYN Nurse Practitioner degree in 1981 from Indiana University School of Nursing in Indianapolis, IN; and finally, her life’s goal, to become a Certified Nurse Midwife in 1991 from the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. Mary retired in 1999.

Mary Pringle is preceded in death by her parents and husband of 57 years, Dean Pringle.

Mary is survived by her five daughters, Liane (Norris) Brown of Tampa, FL; Pamela Pringle of Louisville, KY; Betsy Morris of Indianapolis, IN; Jodeane Pringle, PhD of Alameda, CA; and Carol Cain of Louisville, KY; seven granddaughters, Melanie (Roy) Gorman of Owensboro, KY; Kory (Rick) Covington; Kristian Stephens of Indianapolis, IN; Dean Anne (Cory) Kloter of Tampa, FL; Alison Hopkins of Bali, Indonesia; Brenna and Brooke Cain of Lexington, Kentucky; nine great-grandchildren, Lee, Kara Mia, and Reece Covington; Calum, Kenna, and Camellia Kloter; Summer and Jude Hopkins and Roy Gorman IV; and nieces and nephews, Charlene (Lee) James of Redding, CA, and Rich (Lisa) Pringle of Shingletown, CA.

A funeral mass will be conducted on April 26, 2025, at 1pm at Church of the Epiphany, 914 Old Harrods Creek Road, Louisville, KY, 40223. Interment at Cave Hill Cemetery immediately following the funeral mass. You may sign up for service updates and get reminders at http://www.dignitymemorial.com under the Mary Pringle obituary.

The family asks that charitable donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, www.michaeljfox.org