Susan Hampton Newton Pryor (1900-1984)
Susie Pryor (1900-1984) was one of Arkansas’s great ladies, an energetic leader, a tireless servant and a loyal friend. Susie Pryor was also a worthy role model for the younger generation of Arkansas women.
Susie Newton was born in Camden in 1900 and married to William Edgar Pryor in 1927. She was the mother of four children, among them former Arkansas Governor and United States Senator David Pryor. Always a pacesetter, she was the first woman to run for elective office in Arkansas after women gained the right to vote in 1920, she was one of the first women in Arkansas to hold a school board position, and she undertook one of the first historic preservation projects in the state. She was an artist, a musician, and a writer. She was the moving force behind the Camden Community House and the Ouachita County Historical Society.
A woman of boundless energy and great warmth, Mrs. Pryor always acted in response to the needs she perceived around her – whether by playing the piano for Camden’s black Second Presbyterian Church for two years, or by serving as a missionary in British Guiana for six months (at the age of 56!), or by cooking meals for prisoners in her sheriff-husband’s care.
As one of her friends wrote in praise of her at her death: “Words ultimately fail us when we try to establish her enduring value to this community, where she was so well-beloved, and will be so gratefully remembered. Hers was a life whose crowning achievement was the triumphant, selfless, daily living of it in a way that should make all of us resolve to “Go, and do likewise.’”
The Susie Pryor Award in Arkansas Women’s History was established in 1986 to offer an annual prize of $1,000 for the best unpublished essay on topics in Arkansas women’s history. Manuscripts are reviewed on their contributions to knowledge of women in Arkansas history, use of primary and secondary materials, creative interpretation, originality, and stylistic excellence. Many of the winning papers have been published.
Susie Newton was born in Camden in 1900 and married to William Edgar Pryor in 1927. She was the mother of four children, among them former Arkansas Governor and United States Senator David Pryor. Always a pacesetter, she was the first woman to run for elective office in Arkansas after women gained the right to vote in 1920, she was one of the first women in Arkansas to hold a school board position, and she undertook one of the first historic preservation projects in the state. She was an artist, a musician, and a writer. She was the moving force behind the Camden Community House and the Ouachita County Historical Society.
A woman of boundless energy and great warmth, Mrs. Pryor always acted in response to the needs she perceived around her – whether by playing the piano for Camden’s black Second Presbyterian Church for two years, or by serving as a missionary in British Guiana for six months (at the age of 56!), or by cooking meals for prisoners in her sheriff-husband’s care.
As one of her friends wrote in praise of her at her death: “Words ultimately fail us when we try to establish her enduring value to this community, where she was so well-beloved, and will be so gratefully remembered. Hers was a life whose crowning achievement was the triumphant, selfless, daily living of it in a way that should make all of us resolve to “Go, and do likewise.’”
The Susie Pryor Award in Arkansas Women’s History was established in 1986 to offer an annual prize of $1,000 for the best unpublished essay on topics in Arkansas women’s history. Manuscripts are reviewed on their contributions to knowledge of women in Arkansas history, use of primary and secondary materials, creative interpretation, originality, and stylistic excellence. Many of the winning papers have been published.