Forsyth County woman turning 100 on Wednesday

On a typical day, 99-year-old Ellen Maxine Pritchard wakes up, has her morning coffee and eats a bowl of cereal.

But Wednesday will be anything but typical. She becomes a centenarian May 3, celebrating her 100th birthday after spending her life working and serving others.

Pritchard was born in West Virginia as the oldest of 10 siblings. In her 20s, she responded to an advertisement to work in the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors Corporation, where the company looking for women to help build aircraft parts for World War II.

In her 20′s, she responded to an advertisement to work in the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors Corporation, where the company was building aircraft for World War II. “My job was to to keep a count of where the parts were located,” Pritchard said. “To know how many we had and where they were located.” (Pritchard is to the far right)

Pritchard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she’s proud of her work during the war.

“My job was to keep a count of where the parts were located,” Pritchard said. “To know how many we had and where they were.”

After the war ended, Pritchard worked at the Fort Holabird Army Base, in Maryland, where she met her husband, Everett Pritchard. Her husband served in the First Special Services Force, Company G, 474th Infantry Regiment with the U.S. Army, her family said.

After the war ended, Pritchard worked at the Holabird Army Base, in Maryland, where she met her husband, Everett Pritchard. Her husband served in the First Special Services Force, Company G, 474th Infantry Regiment with the U.S. Army, the family said.

Pritchard received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at Towson University, formally known as State Teachers College at Towson. She went on to teach high school economics at a school in Florida and substitute teach at a school in California. Once she retired, she moved to Georgia to be closer to her family.

Pritchard has lived in Cumming for nearly 20 years, after moving to Georgia in 2004. Throughout her 80s, after answering an ad in the AJC, she volunteered at Phillips State Prison in Buford, starting a library and GED program. She also volunteered at the Forsyth County Jail, teaching the GED for four years.

Pritchard’s granddaughter-in-law, Beth Pritchard, said her grandmother still partakes in one of her favorite hobbies: gardening.

“Gardening is a huge love of hers. She’s always out in the garden, trimming trees or planting stuff and climbing on ladders when she shouldn’t,” Beth Pritchard said of her grandmother.

She likes to plant “all kinds” of flowers, the 99-year-old said.

“I just go to the store and buy flowers I like, and bring them home and put them in a pot and set them on a fence,” Pritchard said.

Pritchard said her grandmother is excited to turn 100 on Wednesday.

“She has been talking about turning 100 for like the last year,” she said.

As of 2022, the United Nations estimates that there are about 593,000 centenarians around the world. Nearly 90,000 of them live in the United States. The centenarian population could grow to about 3.7 million by 2050, a 2016 study estimates.