Dorothy Fay Abel Hudgens Pringle

Dorothy Fay Abel Hudgens Pringle went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on July 22, 2022.

Visitation will be Tuesday, July 26, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pecan Grove Funeral Home, 3124 N. Robinson Drive. Funeral services will be Wednesday, July 27, at 11:00 a.m. at the funeral home with Pastor Mike Raymond officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Please dress comfortably due to the heat.

Dorothy was born to Ed and Johnnie Elizabeth Crouch Abel on February 5, 1933 in McLennan County, Texas. Her dad worked for the Southwestern Cotton Belt Railroad in Waco. He would get railroad passes and they would go see her sister in Nebraska. As a lifelong resident of Waco, she attended Waco High School, was had been a member of Rebecka Lodge 185 Waco, spent many years as a homemaker, worked at JM Woods Manufacturing for many years, and retired from Word Record, Inc. While there, she trained employees to assemble the Focus on the Family notebooks.

Dorothy had a passion for children and provided childcare to several children over the years, in addition to teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to her beloved Pre-K, first and second graders at Beverly Hills Baptist Church where she was a long-time member. Her grandchildren remember her strongly encouraging them to memorize scripture.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her two husbands, R.C. Hudgens and Charles Pringle; sister, Lorraine Mohlman Osler (Lavern and Rod); and brothers, Thomas Calvin Abel (Jean) and Edward Abel (Emily), and sister-in-law Martha Abel.

Dorothy deeply loved being a wife and homemaker and considered her greatest achievement to be raising her four children, Vicky Smith (Tommy), Linda Prata (Bob), Roger Hudgens (late wife, Karen), and Ronnie Hudgens (Christine). She is also survived by her brother, Ray V. Abel, Sr.; grandchildren, Sonya Sterling (Donald), Jennifer Hartline, Sheena Prata, Brittany Prata, Kari Simms, Amanda Hudgens Leverette, David Cain and Jonathan Watson; great-grandchildren, Alex Mendoza, Joey Smith, Donald (Tre) Sterling, III, Harrison Hartline, Hailey Hartline, and Tommy Leverette; and great-great grandchildren, Lex Mendoza, Addison Mendoza, Malachi Smith, and Kayden Smith, and many nieces and nephews, who she dearly loved and kept in contact with. She was very grateful to have some very dear friends: childhood friend Barbara Keetch of Temple, TX, Florence Black, Bobbie Christian, and Edna Carlisle.

Pallbearers will be Roger Hudgens, Ronnie Hudgens, Alex Mendoza, Joey Smith, Donald Sterling III, and Harrison Hartline.

Dorothy enjoyed embroidery, sewing, and working in her yard (especially her rose bushes, irises, and cannas). She will be deeply missed, but we know she is happy and is tending rose gardens and enjoying listening to the birds chirping in Heaven.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment at https://mtlebanoncamp.com/donate, Friends for Life of Waco at https://friendsforlife.org/ or Visiting Angels of Waco at 1514 Austin Ave., Waco, TX 76701.


GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!