Newspaper: BEACON-NEWS
Date: 10/18/1997
Day of Week: Saturday
Section: NEWS
Page: A1
Headline: Secondary tragedy: Crash victim leaves three young children alone
Byline: Marcia Z. Nelson
Credit: STAFF WRITER
Caption: Ann and Rickey Pryor with their three children
A single car crash at Eola Road and New York Street claimed many victims.
In three houses in Naperville, mothers and fathers lost their daughters
early Friday morning.
In one house in Aurora, three children lost their mother.
While the Matzdorf, Anderson and Roberts families of Naperville mourned the
losses of their teen-age daughters Allison, Jenni and Jennifer, the Pryor
and Martinez families of Aurora gathered for the second time in six months
to share their mourning, and to plan the future of three children left
orphaned by the death of Ana L. Martinez Pryor.
Pryor, 27, was a passenger in the car driven by Randy J. Visor, the driver
accused in the quadruple fatality.
Pryor's husband and the children's father, Rickey Pryor, died in April in
California.
He was killed in a car crash, just as Ana was.
Ana and Rickey left three children under the age of 10 to care for: Isaiah,
8; Roxana, 5; and Briana, 3. They were married in 1993, and had moved from
Aurora's East Side, where both grew up and went to school, to Pittsburg,
Calif.
Ana Pryor and the children came back from California to bury Rickey Pryor,
and relatives said she was planning to return there with the children.
"This Sunday we were going to pray for her and wish her the best," said the
Rev. Daniel Enriquez, pastor of the Spanish Assembly of God Church in Plano
where the Martinez family attended church.
Ana's sister, Lydia Ramirez, said she doesn't know what will happen to the
children now.
Family members also said they don't know what Ana was doing out with Visor.
The Rev. Jettie Taylor of Temple of God Church was stunned by the news of
Ana Pryor's death. He buried Rickey Pryor, a member of his congregation, in
April.
"She was just at our church three weeks ago," he said. "What a tragedy."
"Pray for us," said the children's great-grandmother, Lannie C. Mitchell.
"We gotta be strong for the kids."
At Luis Martinez' house Friday night, Arthelia Henderson, Rickey Pryor's
mother, held her granddaughter Roxana, 5, on her lap, tightly.
In addition to her father, Luis, and her sister, Lydia Ramirez, Ana
Martinez Pryor is survived by her brother, Luis Jr., and his wife, Maria,
and two other sisters, Elizabeth Martinez and Mary Lou Santillan, as well
as a stepdaughter, Michelle.
The family is arranging a trust through Aurora National Bank to take care
of burial expenses and future expenses for the Pryor children.
Contributions can be made to Pryor Family Children's Trust, in care of
Aurora National Bank, 2 S. Broadway, Aurora, Ill. 60507-1326.