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Troy Lynn Pritt was born in Elkins, West Virginia. When he was in the second grade, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland and he grew up there in Armistead Gardens, a low-rent housing project.
He joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves the summer between his junior and senior year of high school. After graduation, he went on six months active duty to Parris Island, SC and Camp Lejeune, NC. Returning to Baltimore he was employed as a draftsman by Western Electric Company.
In September 1958 he joined the U.S. Air Force, and was trained as a Russian linguist at Syracuse University. He married Lorraine Catherine Barrows of Baltimore and they had an apartment in Syracuse, NY. He spent the entire year of 1960 on Shemya Island, Alaska. While he was stationed at that remote site, Paul Troy Pritt, their first son was born to Troy and Lorraine in Baltimore, MD. From there Troy Lynn was transferred to Ft. Meade, Maryland. In September 1961 the Air Force had a drastic downsizing and he was discharged to go to seminary.
From September 1961 to December 1962 he was a student at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. In January 1963 he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to the Army Language School at Presidio of Monterey, CA for intermediate Russian language instruction. While there he and his wife had their second son, Mark Davenport Pritt, who was born at Ft. Ord, CA.
From California he was transferred to Menwith Hill Station in Yorkshire, England. Their third son, David Brainerd Pritt was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. During the time he was in the Air Force and Army, Troy Lynn had been taking college courses on the military bases through University College, University of Maryland. He was transferred to Ft. Meade, Maryland in the fall of 1967 and was able to attend courses on the campus of University of Maryland to complete his degree. In May 1968 he received the Bachelor of Arts degree ‘with honors’ from the University of Maryland.
He left the Army in the fall of 1968 and returned to the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia. He graduated from there in May 1970 with a B.D. degree which was later converted to a M.Div.
He was ordained by Guyandotte Presbytery, Presbyterian Church,U.S. and began his first pastorate in Putnam County, West Virginia at the Eleanor, Pliny, and Winfield Presbyterian Churches. He preached in all three churches each Sunday morning. His next pastorate was a single church, Parsons Presbyterian Church in Tucker County, West Virginia. While there he joined a West Virginia Army National Guard unit at Camp Dawson in Kingwood, WV. In 1975 he accepted a call to pastor two churches in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Fairlea A.R.P. Church in Greenbrier County, West Virgina and New Lebanon A.R.P. Church in Monroe County, West Virginia. Also that year a fourth son was born to Troy Lynn and Lorraine, Andrew Caleb Pritt.
While pastor of Fairlea and New Lebanon Churches he completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education at Weston State Hospital. He then began work on his Doctor of Ministry degree at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas.
In 1982 he accepted the call to pastor the Covington A.R.P. Church in Covington, TN. He resumed his studies for Doctor of Ministry at Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, SC. During their residence in Covington, Lorraine pursued studies for a nursing license. She passed the state license exam with one of the highest scores. She became a Licensed Practical Nurse. At first she did home care nursing for terminally ill patients. Then she worked in a nursing home in Covington.
In the fall of 1987 Troy Lynn accepted the call to the Edwards Rogers Larger Parish in Bradley County, Arkansas. This was three rural churches. Two belonged to the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and one belonged to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian General Synod. He continued work on his doctorate and in June 1990 received the Doctor of Ministry degree from Erskine Theological Seminary. In 1996 Troy Lynn and Lorraine bought a house in Warren, Arkansas where they still live today.
At the end of 2000 he retired. For most of 2001 he was interim minister of the Ruston Presbyterian Church in Ruston, Louisiana. Since then he has preached on Sundays in small Presbyterian churches without a pastor.
After he retired, he took a correspondence course on writing fiction and then two creative writing courses at University of Arkansas, Monticello. He has had two short stories published in “Between the Lines”, an article published in GOLDENSEAL magazine, and in 2008 published his first book, Troy Wye Pritt In His Own Words He is a member of the Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas, the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society, and the Oral History Association, Mid-Atlantic Region.