W.T. Shumake & Daughters

April 25, 1931 – April 3, 2025

Odera Lee Ridgel Pritchett, 93, of Louisville transitioned on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at Sunrise of Louisville.

Visitation 10-12 Saturday, April 12, 2025 at Muir Chapel Venue 813 Gilliland Road Louisville, KY 40245. Funeral will follow at 12 Noon. Burial Cave Hill Cemetery.

Odera Lee Pritchett was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri on April 25, 1931, to Herford Ridgel and Leu Emma Davis Ridgel. Odera was raised by her father and her stepmother, Lugene Ridgel, after her mother died of tuberculosis when Odera was seven years old. She grew up with her older brothers, Gus and “Junior.” The three had a close, loving relationship that lasted all their lives.

Odera graduated from high school at age 16. She attended Lincoln University and became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

After graduation, Odera landed her first teaching job in New Madrid, Missouri. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse set aside for Black children during segregation. A parent placed her on the back of a mule each day to take her to school.

While she taught in New Madrid, she met Cleo Green. The two married. Odera then moved to Kennett, Missouri to teach kindergarten and elementary school students. Odera earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois at Carbondale. She continued to teach and eventually became the kindergarten’s principal. She taught in Kennett for over 40 years.

Odera divorced, retired, and moved to St. Louis around 1995. There she reconnected with her childhood sweetheart, Earl Pritchett, and remarried. Odera continued to live in St. Louis after Earl’s death. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 2017 to be with her daughter, Debra Green. Odera’s daughter cared for Odera until her death on April 3, 2025.

Odera is remembered by those who loved her for many things: her laughter, her dry sense of humor, her occasional stubbornness, her quiet elegance, her love for shopping. But she’s mainly remembered for her love of teaching. When asked why she preferred teaching kindergarten, Odera would smile and reply, “I’m molding little minds.” She used her gift as an educator to give love to each child she encountered.
And those children—now adults who range in age from their 70s to their 40s—fondly remember “Miss Green.” As one person who knew her wrote: “She was more than just a teacher; she was a guiding light, an inspiration, and a true example of Black excellence in our community….Her dedication and love for her students shaped generations, and her impact will live on in every child she encouraged to believe in themselves.”

Preceding Odera in death are her parents and stepmother; her oldest brother, Herford Ridgel, Jr.; her brother, Dr. Gus T. Ridgel and beloved sister-in-law, Dr. Gertrude Cain Ridgel; her son (Cleo Green, Jr., who died a few days after birth); her husband, Earl Pritchett; and her dear friend, Sonny Davis.

Odera leaves behind her daughter, Debra Green; her nephew, Anthony Ridgel; her nieces, Betty Bolden and Lenora King; her great-niece, Whitley King; her dearest childhood friend, Carolyn Jacobs Cooper, and a host of other family, former colleagues and students who loved her.