James William MacClain Pryde

James William MacClain Pryde, 74, of Worthington, Ohio died Sunday, December 17, 2017 of complications from abdominal surgeries. Born on October 25, 1943 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Jim spent half his childhood there and half in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: an alternating pattern that continued for most of his life. A Sioux Falls’ Washington High School Jim joined the SeaBees. He began college at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, but was asked to leave in his sophomore year (1963) because of alleged involvement in a “pantie raid”. He then joined the Navy (1964) and was off to Great Lakes, Ill., then Norfolk, Va., as a cryptographer. While sightseeing in Washington, D.C., he met Franny Tarpy, a college student there. They began a long-distance relationship through letters. Jim separated from the Navy in May, 1967, and on May 27, 1967, he and Fran married. Off they went to Brookings, S.D. a return to SDSU and Electrical Engineering. Two years later, Jim switched majors to Ocean Engineering and a moved to Melbourne, Florida and Florida Institute of Technology; while working at Harris SemiConductor. He took a few electives in the “new” area of computer science and changed majors again: he’d found what he wanted. In May, 1971, Jim and Fran brought home Rachel Catherine Pryde. In December, 1973, Jim graduated with his B.S. in Computer Science. By 1974 the family was in Golden, Colorado; Jim first at Ansaphone of Colorado, then with DATA 100 of Denver, who moved him to Windsor, Colorado as a remote field engineer. In 1979, Jim and Fran were surprised by James Thomas MacClain (Jamie) Pryde. In 1980 they were all on the road again, to Columbus, Ohio and Jim’s job with Perkin-Elmer. Then, in 1981, a real surprise: Sarah and Abby Pryde, born August 14, 1981. For the following 36 years the family stayed put in Worthington, Ohio while Jim worked for or trained with a laundry list of IT companies: Wang, Northern Telecom, Cisco Systems, Pyramid Technology, Oracle Systems and a dozen more, many of which remain only as names on his coffee cup collection. With the new century came a new employment landscape-contracting. Jim made the transition easily to working for a wide variety of contractors, always for the same ultimate employer: the Department of Defense. DCFC and the revolving cast of fellow contractors became his home away from home. Thursday, December 7, 2017 he returned from a short contract at Mitchell AFB, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He’d been ill that week with abdominal pain. Jim saw his primary care doctor Friday morning, was sent to the ER, from there to emergency surgery, with a second early Sunday morning, the 10th of December. A simple hernia repair had become an emergency, the emergency surgeries triggered system failures, and Jim died late Sunday evening, the 17th. Jim is proceeded in death by his parents: Jane Menke Pryde and James Francis (Jeanne) Pryde, his mother and father in law Catherine and Thomas Tarpy and his sister in law, Marie Tarpy. Jim is survived by his wife, Frances and by his children; daughters: Rachel (Jay) Baker, Sarah Pryde (Jeremy Binder) and Abby (Jason) Valencia, and by his son, Jamie (Natalie) Pryde, along with his dearly loved grandchildren: Katy Baker, Alice, Ryan and Emmett Valencia and Isla Mae Pryde. Also surviving are Jim’s sisters:Mary Jane (Earl) Sears, Cathy (Bruce) Berg, Heather (Eric) Meyers and Vicki Pryde Ritchie;, twelve nieces and nephews; and Jim’s in-laws Tom (Mary Pat) Tarpy, David (Ann) Tarpy, Tim (Cindy) Tarpy, Dan (Chris) Tarpy, Mary Kay (Jim) McMartin, Margaret Ann Tarpy and Liz (Luis) Alcalde, along with sixteen nieces and nephews. Finally, Jim is survived by his green-cheeked conure (parrot) Petey-Taylor. James William MacClain was a quiet, stubborn, brilliant, left-handed right-brained artist, mathematician, gardener and cook. He’d had a remarkably lucky life and said so, with work he liked to do all his life, the places he’d been, the people he’d known, the experiences he’d had and his family: his children of whom he was so proud, his grandchildren for whom he will always be PopPoP, and his wife of 50 years of love and butting heads, of laughter and affection. Memorial services will be Saturday, December 23,2017 with visitation from 11 to 1, with service at 1, at Rutherford-Corbin Funeral Home, 515 North High Street, Worthington, Ohio 43085. Military service and inurnment at a National Cemetery will take place at a future date.

James William MacClain Pryde

October 25, 1943 - December 17, 2017