Age 94, passed away Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at Oakview Terrace. She was born in Grand Ledge, MI on July 5, 1922, the last of six children of Clayton and Elenora (Sanders) Dixon. At age 11, both parents died, but Mary Louise persevered and graduated from Grand Ledge High School in 1940. She attended Parsons Business School in Kalamazoo and was Vice President of the local chapter of the Alpha Iota Sorority. Her first job after graduation was secretary at the Centerville Sanitarium in Centerville, MI. At that time, Mary met her future husband, Warren Troyer Pridgeon. They married on August 15, 1942, settling in Kalamazoo, and they were married for 73 years, until his death in 2015. For many years Mary Louise worked at the Brown Company in Kalamazoo. Over the years, Warren and Mary Louise attended Simpson United Methodist Church, Westwood United Methodist, Kalamazoo Wesleyan and Westwood Church of God (now Grace Harbor Church). Mary Louise’s passion in life was to serve the Lord Jesus in raising her children and serving the community. In the early 1960’s, she was Chairman of the Women’s Division of the Kalamazoo Safety Council and, beginning in the early 1970’s, served as a volunteer mentor for mothers receiving assistance under the Aid to Dependent Children program. She also started Bible clubs for children at Patwood, a low income housing project in Kalamazoo. For many years, she and Warren made work trips to the Southwest Indian School in Arizona. Mary Louise also made a short term mission trip to Ecuador. She served as president of the Ladies Auxiliary at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. She started many small prayer groups and was a prayer counselor in many evangelistic crusades that came through Kalamazoo. Toward the end of her life, she led Bible studies and craft activities at various nursing homes. Mary Louise is survived by her children, Nancy (Mike) Chase and Jim (Joy) Pridgeon; and grandchildren, Tim (Caroline), Andrew, Marie and Joanna Chase, Matthew, Emily and Michael Pridgeon.