Teacher, sailor, community activist

Marian Katherine Prindle was born on December 20, 1929 in Syracuse, New York. Her parents were Egbert Michael Prindle and Lena Elizabeth (Rhoads) Prindle. Her father had a daughter, Helen, from his prior marriage. Marian remained close to Helen and her children. Her dad died when she was 6 years old. She and her mother lived on a relative’s farm in Ira Hill, New York, then in an apartment in Weedsport, New York, where her mother found work, then in a house facing the Erie Canal, after her mother remarried. Her mother subsequently gave birth to Frank and Phyllis Drabel, and she remained close friends with them.

Her first school was a one room country schoolhouse in Ira Hill. She continued her elementary and high school education at Weedsport Central School. One of her teachers nicknamed her Kate, and it stuck, later softened to Katie.

One day as an early elementary student she was bouncing her ball past the Baptist church, and the ball jumped sideways into the church basement, where a youth group was meeting. The pastor welcomed her, and she stayed, eventually being elected the group’s treasurer years later.

Because her family lacked money for college, her teachers discouraged her from taking college-prep classes. But she took them anyway. She chose tiny Baptist Missionary Training School in Chicago as her college, but she faced two obstacles. First, her family had no money. Second, her newly hired Baptist pastor considered the college too liberal and refused to sign the necessary document recommending her admission. Her first problem was solved when a close friend decided not to attend college and the friend’s family gave her college savings account to her. Her second problem was solved when her school superintendent pressured her pastor into signing his approval.

In Chicago, she paid part of her expenses by working as a housemaid in the college. She did charitable field work in low-income, especially ethnic and racial minority, neighborhoods. Her tiny college had some classes taught by distinguished faculty from major nearby universities. She said that Baptist Missionary Training School and Chicago opened the world to her.

At Baptist Missionary she met John Walker, who attended a nearby seminary, and they married in 1952. They immediately moved to California, his home state. He attempted to be hired as a minister. He didn’t succeed, but First Baptist Church in Monrovia offered her a job in Christian education. John soon decided to change fields and studied at Claremont University College (now Claremont Graduate University), eventually making a career in urban planning. While he was at CUC she worked as a part-time secretary to professor Fred Warner Neal.

The couple divorced in 1962, having had two sons: John and Bruce.

Fred later proposed to her, and they married in 1969. During his sabbatical they traveled in Mexico and Europe, where she learned German. After their return, she accompanied him to meetings of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, where she became a friend of Robert Hutchins and met Bobby Kennedy.

She pursued a career in education, as director of Christian education for Claremont United Church of Christ, as a Head Start teacher in Pasadena, and as director of the Blind Children’s Center in LA, which paid for her to take an intensive summer program in education of disabled children at Syracuse University. Her background with disabled children got her hired at Mt. San Antonio College in 1971 upon her divorce from Neal.

She taught early child development at Mt. SAC for 23 years and was elected secretary, then president, of the faculty senate. She often opposed the plans of the college’s academic vice president, but she became his good friend anyway. “She carried so many materials from her office to a classroom or the campus preschool that her friends gave her a little red wagon,” her family shared. “She brought smiles to many faces as she crossed campus pulling a little red wagon full of teaching materials. At her retirement party, current and former students sang ‘You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings,’ which she loved and remembered fondly.”

Her duties included visiting preschools where her students obtained practical experience. She became friends with many preschool directors, some of whom occasionally taught a class at Mt. SAC, and she had monthly lunch with a group of them until her death.

A mutual friend introduced her to Bob Gerecke in 1964. “They married in 1975 and remained spouses, lovers, and best friends until her death on November 19, 2025,” her family said. Bob’s primary recreation was sailing, and she adopted it enthusiastically, quickly becoming a skilled crew member. They sailed boats from 20 feet to 46 feet long, to the islands off Southern California and on charters in several other places, including two in Nova Scotia and three in New Zealand. “More than once, Katie’s awareness and skill got the boat and its occupants out of danger,” her family said. “She enjoyed hosting friends on sailing trips as well as having romantic relaxation with Bob at sea and at anchor.”

After retirement she became active in the League of Women Voters, serving as president for four years. An observer who watched her preside over a public meeting remarked, “Wow, what a competent woman she is, a superb, rational, even-handed and positive leader.” During that time, she represented the League of Women Voters on a city committee which concluded by recommending the design of Claremont’s sustainability program: a sustainability plan, sustainability committee, annual sustainability report, and creation of a nonprofit eventually named Sustainable Claremont. She then served as secretary of the board and membership chair of Sustainable Claremont for several years. A fellow board member said he “always appreciated Katie for her strong leadership, conviction, common sense, and dependability.”

She represented the local League of Women Voters on SPA3, LA County’s committee of community advisors regarding public services in the eastern portion of the county.

For many years she organized, catalogued and maintained the League of Women Voters’ historical archive. In 2019, as the archive was about to be purged and downsized, she gave Honnold Library two boxes of historic documents: “Three Valley Materials” from Muriel O’Brien, and Beijing correspondence from Marilee Scaff.

Also for many years, as long as her health and energy persisted, she tutored children at CLASP’s Wheeler Park site.

For the last several years she was vice president of the local chapter of the U.N. Association, where she wrote a status report of a U.N. Sustainable Development Goal that was attached to the chapter’s monthly email to members. She also participated in promoting the chapter’s annual essay contest to Claremont and nearby school districts, and in judging the essays.

Her husband Bob donated her whole body to the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, for education and research. “She will be of service to others in death as she was in life,” he said.

A memorial service will be scheduled for a later date.

“Katie’s highest priorities for charitable donations were international organizations which serve children who are victims of man-made or natural disasters,” her family said. Her family asks that donations be made to some of her most favored examples, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which takes donations at give.unrefugees.org; International Rescue Committee at rescue.org; OXFAM at oxfamamerica.org/donate; and Doctors Without Borders at give.doctorswithoutborders.org.