Obituary of James A. Praytor

On January 29, 2012, James Arthur Praytor, passed, leaving a gaping hole in the hearts of all who were fortunate enough to know and love him. Born in Bessemer Alabama, February 24, 1936 to Arthur E. Praytor and Ila Mae McNutt — the sixth of sixteen children — yes, you read that correctly — four sisters and eleven brothers – the streets of Bessemer are paved with stories of their youth and the hell they raised. James was the first of his family to attend college, graduating from Auburn University with a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1958. Though he left Alabama shortly thereafter his love for his family and southern roots only grew stronger with time. In 1962 James met Donna Jean Busse at a stoplight in Eau Gallie, Florida. Knowing a good thing when she saw it, she asked for his hand in marriage. Being the smart kid that he was, he said yes and they were married on June 22, 1963. Thirteen months later their son was born and James Arthur Praytor II would spend the next forty-seven years trying to become half the man his father was. A little over a year after the birth of his son, James would become a father again. This time he was named the legal guardian of Debora Lee Busse, his wife’s nine-year old sister, when they tragically lost their parents within a year of each other. As James told Donna at the time, “I now have the son and daughter I’ve always wanted.” Imagine his pride over seeing the children he raised marry and have kids of their own. He wore the mantle of “Papa J” to Brandon (30), Matthew (20), Nicole (18), Carlin (13) and Aidan (8). James was a career man in every sense of the phrase. His ambition led him to the Marshall Islands, White Sands, New Mexico, Washington DC and a few points in between. He was a systems engineer and managed the technical operations for the Nike Zeus Program as well as designing and implementing automated telemetry instrumentation systems for the Apollo and Saturn II space programs. He was also part of the team who designed and maintained the Kennedy Space Center Scientific Commuting Facility for NASA. For a majority of his career he was a Project Manager for Computer Sciences Corporation working on such assignments as a worldwide satellite tracking and data network for NASA and CSC’s time-sharing computer network INFONET. He finished his career leading teams that worked on data management systems for the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Bureau of Census. He finished life strong, refusing to let Alzheimer’s have the best of him. Instead, he wrote this chapter with courage, grace, and, whenever possible, a sense of humor. His family followed his lead. They told him clearly and often how important his life was to theirs. He did the same, even when words were no longer an option. Most importantly, James and his family laughed at every opportunity. In the end, Alzheimer’s didn’t win this battle, love did. James is survived by his devoted wife of forty-eight years, Donna Praytor. She worked tirelessly caring for him in the final years of his life which only made her love him more and more each day. He is also survived by his son, Jim and daughter-in-law, Marjorie Coster-Praytor; Debora and Greg Stone; grandchildren Carlin and Aidan Praytor; nephews Brandon Kimball, Matthew Stone and niece, Nicole Stone; his brothers, Mike, Tony, Jimmy, and Ronny Praytor; his sisters, Bonnie Smith, Sharon Belcher and Vivian Wright; his brother-in-law, Duane Busse and his wife, Lisa; sister-in-law, Deanne Atkinson; and finally, his loyal companions – Angel and Mini who were never far from his side.