James Robert Pryor passed away on June 3rd 2026 at the age of 83.

He was born in Chicago in 1942, on the 18th day of September. His father, also named James Robert Pryor would head off to World War II long before Jim was born; and would remain an enigmatic and mysterious figure until much later in Jim's life. The boy's mother, Mary Sockich, then 29yrs old, having emigrated from Yugoslavia as a child, would embark on raising him on her own with help where she could find it.

She moved to Riverside, California to be near her brother John. Challenged by her situation, Mary settled young Jim with an older Foster couple Ida and Vernon Wilson who shepherded a number of children through challenging years in their home.

"Jimmy", as Ida would forever call him, fondly recalled his California time as a young boy. Roaming mischief scrawled across the sunny Santa Ana River basin in the late 1940s as he played with his Mexican friend Poncho, booting a football into the pale blue skies only for it to vanish, lost somewhere up in a coconut tree and diving down into a ditch as the red engines came blaring to the false fire alarm lit and pulled by their curiosity.

After age 10 Mary collected Jim from Southern California and headed for Minnesota where he would spend time near his Grandparents' farm in Palisade, Mn. Arriving one chilly night at the empty farmhouse, they stepped in to find that neither electricity, nor heat had been turned on for them yet.

During this countryside living, Jim would soon earn a scar chasing after older step brother Gene who had raced off to play with his buddies. Across the field, weeds clutching and wicking past ankles, the younger brother tried to scamper through a barbwire fence, but only managed to tear a gash in his forearm. It's pale jagged memory would last long enough to show his own kids decades later.

Jim was soon to meet Clarence Roden his new stepfather. The strict older man, a carpenter, would marry Mary and start his new family off first in a small one bedroom home. Jim had no bedroom and slept on the couch. Sometimes he would awake from the final breathy whoosh of Clarence's accordion being put away, having slept all through it's raucous playing.

As he fell into the rhythms of his midwestern life, scored by the rock n'roll music he loved in the mid 50s, the trio moved to a home on Cedar Lake near Aitkin Minnesota.

It was sometime in these years that a dream started to take root in Jim. Floating out on the lake in a little boat, fishing or just laying in the sun, he would pretend he was hosting a radio show. Announcing to the blue skies above and the darting fish below the next song up from Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley; pretend banter to fill the time and lazy summer air.

School and music passed the time. He took up Saxophone scraping together money to buy an old tenor from the 30's that he'd blow on for the next 70yrs.

By sixteen his interest in music was well known enough that when a radio man casually asked a waitress at the local diner if she knew a teenager who might make a good host for a radio show - geared towards the younger set - she immediately pointed out Jim Pryor, sitting in a booth at that very moment.

While common conceit might credit simple fate for this unlikely first step in fulfilling his dream, Jim was already formulating other ideas; to him it was about "keeping your antennae up", thinking about the things you wanted to happen, the people who might help you achieve them, sending out your wishes like you were broadcasting from a radio transmitter so those elements that were needed to accomplish the things you wanted were drawn together.

As he graduated high school and decided what to do next, he worked as a bagger at the local supermarket bringing groceries out to customers cars and lamb chops home for his mom to cook up. Interested in seeing the world, by 21 he had settled on joining the the U.S. Air Force.

In Texas for training when JFK was shot, an event that kicked the Vietnam war into overdrive, Jim sat ready to get shipped out. When his orders came in he luckily avoided heading into the conflict and instead was sent to one of his top location choices to be stationed.

He arrived at Toul-Rosières Air Base in Eastern France near Luxembourg as an Air Force Military Police Officer. There he guarded the legendary F4 Phantom fighter jets. Those Jim kept an eye on, however, were outfitted for reconnaissance as the Cold War with Russia continued to unspool even as Vietnam actively ramped up.

Overseas he would experience some of the most formative moments and friendships of his life. With his military buddies "Andy" Anderson, Joe Tousa, and his "brother", another James R… Chorley, along with many others, they would pal around Paris, London, Belgium and nearby European locales often in Jims brand new English Racing Green Triumph Spitfire convertible. The tales that unspooled for the American boys overseas would feed storytelling for the rest of their lives.

Lasting memories of getting pinned in by swirling traffic, stuck doing dizzying laps in the Arch de Triumph roundabout , losing a tire only to see it smoothly roll past them as they cruised down the road before the car collapsed, dancing the night away in foreign music clubs, pursuing girlfriends, losing girlfriends, making new friends, seeing the world, stacking foundational bricks of the men they were growing to be.

After three years of French living, in January of 1967 the country's leader, President Charles de Gaulle, ordered most foreign military to leave the country. Jim got transferred to his other top pick… jolly old England. Visiting the White Cliffs of Dover along the way, he and Andy crossed the pond to the UK, and moved into their new home at Chelveston Airbase, north of London.

There for a year their adventures continued. The boys spent their free time driving on the wrong side of the road, blowing through stop signs hidden on the "wrong" corner of the street and getting accosted by Bobbies.

All the while Jim ruminated on his next moves to break into broadcasting after his service was finished. He listened to pirate radio stations untethered to the BBC broadcasting rules that were moored off the coast of England. He attended a communications school in London that laid some of the groundwork for what was to come.

When his tour of duty was over at the end of '67 Jim could only wonder that he'd somehow managed to join the service while Vietnam raged, not see those jungles, get his top two choices for location and was now heading back to the US with his beloved Spitfire convertible and a G.I. Bill that would put him through radio school.

Somewhere over the Atlantic on his way home, he flew over his car trudging beneath him on a shipping boat. When he arrived in New York City he looked up his old Air Force pal Joe Tousa and stayed with him for a week in Brooklyn while he awaited his little green roadster. He spent the days while Joe was at work, wandering the city. Though he missed his chance to trip a purse snatcher bounding through Times Square, he gained a story he would never tire of telling. He breathed in the crowded city, in all it's aggressive attitude and menacing atmosphere, while seeing the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.

When the Spitfire rolled off the boat a week later the headlight covers had been stolen. But aside from that small setback Jim was speeding towards Minnesota and his future, cruising along the highway, the wind in his hair and the radio cranked high.

Things moved quickly after that. Minnesota was too cold for a convertible so he bought a new Triumph coupe with a hardtop. He went to the Brown School of broadcasting south of the Twin Cities, graduating from their Radio Broadcasting Program. In the years to come he would have an opportunity to hire many notable "Brownies" from his alma mater including Barry Brueland with the booming voice and Hugh Phillips his former teacher among many more faces fresh from the school giving them their first radio jobs.

With his education in hand, Jim landed a job with radio station KKIN in Aitkin as a disc jockey and sales person. The same station he had hosted his teen program on. Though being on air was what he had always dreamed of, his boss pushed him towards selling advertising and as it turned out… he was pretty damn good at it.

His likable, good humored, easy going nature put people at ease and his sincere interest in the folks he was talking to went a long way towards closing advertising deals.

A switch to the radio station KLIZ brought him occasionally to O'Briens clothing store in Brainerd where his boss Ed Tom O'Brien kept an office, juggling his business interests. More interesting to Jim was the 20yr old Credit Manager Mary Hendrickson who sat behind the secretary figuring out which customers could "Buy now , pay later."

The pretty blonde had a warm smile, a sharp eye for late 60s fashion and an immediate dislike for Jim.

Among the first handful of conversational attempts, he told her she seemed like a "Mustang Sally" which did not go over well. Undaunted Jim kept coming back, with his ready made excuse of visiting his boss, trying to strike up conversation with the elusive beauty and scrabbling to find some kind of inroads.

Persistence paid off with an almost-date as they agreed to meet up at a dance hall - the Purple Peanut - one evening around the 4th of July 1969. Mary showed up in a red, white and blue dress that she had sewn herself. Jim showed up hoping this meeting would jumpstart their connection. But as the live music blared, and feet pounded across the floor, Jim's hopes started to disintegrate just like Mary's homemade dress. Each dance brought another untethered thread as the homemade garment proceeded to rip out at all the seams while the dancing and night took its toll. Jim and Mary left separately, nothing further on the books.

Jim, however, was in no short supply of determination and eventually talked Mary into going to a drive-in movie. He ordered food for her without asking what she'd like… her annoyance was immediate and palpable. They muddled through the evening. Somehow he managed to talk her into going for a drive the next day - likely one of his more difficult sales jobs - but afterwards she remained unimpressed.

Pushing for another real date, Jim was single minded in his pursuit. Mary agreed to a further meet up, with one caveat… she did not want to go on a double date.

When Jim arrived to pick her up, his buddy was in the back seat. With persistence in spades and blithe unawareness too, Jim welcomed her into his car and Mary clambered in for the double date she had expressly not wanted. They drove on to pick up Mary's girlfriend Kay Seidan to complete the quartet and spent a mediocre evening with moody Mary wondering why she put up with any of this.

The next day Kay stopped by Mary's house and asked what she thought about Jim.

"oh yeah, I'm gonna marry him" Mary spat back sarcastically.

On Christmas eve of that year Mary excitedly agreed to get engaged to Jim. Sitting at the table in the quiet kitchen of her mom's house, she was surprised by the question, but didn't hesitate at the answer.

They re-entered the living room where they had just opened presents and told Mary's family the news. Her brothers Mike, Paul and Jim were excited, her mom, yet another Mary, already wanted to know when it was happening.

"We JUST got engaged Mom!" all laughed, except little sister Sue who had disappeared into the back bedroom crying - worried she was losing her big sister forever.

After talking Sue down, the happy couple drove to Jim's mom's place and told her and Clarence the news.

August seemed like the time to tie the knot. But as a few engaged weeks went by, Jim anxiously moved the date up to early summer. By February he had talked Mary into April 25th.

The previous autumn, the pair had gone for a walk around the lake. Jim knew some secret path of course. Jim was always making his own path. This day, when they'd only been dating a month or two, and Mary had finally seemed to warm up to the sandy blonde pale blue eyed fellow who wouldn't take no for an answer, he sat and looked over at the pretty girl and the thought had struck him then - this is the girl he was going to marry.

Things had all moved very fast once the damn broke and Mary started to appreciate his efforts. She went to see him play saxophone with the band he was in "The Shackletons". The talented go getter was starting to impress her.

One night driving while driving, listening to Jim's evening DJ spot on the radio, suddenly his voice filled the car "Pay attention Mary…we've got "Honey Love." the needle dropped on The Drifters crooning across the airwaves on dedicated behalf of the lovestruck boy to the increasingly receptive girl.

Now, as the whirlwind of Christmas eve disappeared and the hastened wedding date rushed forward, Mary bought a dress and they pulled a wedding together in little more six weeks. The day went off with no hitch but the intended one… Unless you count Jim's brother and best man Gene, ill from the previous nights party, throwing up on the altar mid ceremony. Or the car they rode in on the way to the reception afterwards, running over a dog. Aside from those things, they were off and running to a great start.

The newlyweds piled into Jims brand new '69 Nova and sped towards Idaho Falls for their honeymoon; a maroon streak across South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. States they'd often visit when their family had grown.

The next few years flew by too, and almost no sooner had Jim found the woman of his life, than he lost the first woman of his life - his mother Mary passed away unexpectedly the morning of Christmas Eve 1972.

A tough blow for Jim and one that was to be quickly followed by his step father Clarence passing away the following August and his grandmother Rose a year later.

The very day Rose passed on, Mary left the hospital with Jim's first child; Stephanie Pryor, born on August 28th 1974.

What was a devastating loss of nearly his entire family over the course of 18 months, signaled the first bloom of his own family. First, the little blonde angel (for the time being) who had almost been named Daisy. That name was in contention 6 years later, but permanently defeated, when first born son Jeffrey, a little copper top redhead joined the fray.

But before the Pryor clan hit four deep, Jim had plans for a bold broadcasting enterprise. In the latter part of the 70's he began conspiring to start his own FM radio station. Finding three investors to join he and Mary, Jim plotted out transmitter land for the tower, pre-sold airtime to advertisers, flew to Washington DC to meet with a broadcast lawyer to deal with the Federal Communications Commission and met with key figures in the Lakes Area to determine what kind of music would be best for the airwaves.

July 21st, 1978 WJJY 106.7 FM went on the air. A unique mix of music formats and a seemingly endless supply of fun and engaging contests, call ins and community participation programs. In any given hour you might hear a rock tune from the 50s, followed by a country song, a deep cut jazzy instrumental and then a fresh top 40 hit of the day. In short, before the format wars to come in the industry, 'JJY as Jim invariably called it, would have a little something for everyone.

Curating such a playlist was like heaven for the kid who had floated on lazy days in his boat dreaming of this opportunity. Jim would continue to hand pick songs to play on the air for many years to come, first with stacks of records, then tapes, then CDs piled around him at work and at home making lists and arguing good naturedly with his DJs about tunes that deserved a spot or didn't.

WJJY quickly became the premiere radio station in central Minnesota and remains so to this day.

On top of his radio endeavors in the 70s Jim left "The Shackletons" to form his own band, "Blue Denim". Festooned in snazzy denim suits the group played gigs around the lakes area to Saturday night revelers, clinking bottles and dancing friends.

Between sets Jim would float through the sweaty crowd to find Mary, often with her old high school pal Kay.

A kiss for Mary and a playful jab for Kay, "Hey, can you sing Tenor?… Ten or twelve miles from here?"

As the 70s turned to the 80s, Jim and his burgeoning family spent the early years in Baxter, then migrated to Brainerd on Gilbert lake where they settled in to raise their family with swimming, boating, ice skating, kids down the block to play with and a home to grow into.

Every summer brought a road trip to satisfy Jim and Mary's wanderlust. The Pryor's headed in all directions, often driving thousands of miles, seeing sights, having experiences and always moving. The family subscribed to an active vacation style rather than a sit in one spot and unwind vacation. Not always relaxing, but always chock full of interesting things, lots of laughs and memories.

All lower 48 got checked off for the clan eventually, including stints through Death Valley without air-conditioning, Galveston still reeling from an oil spill, a brush with Stephen King and dozens of other adventures.

On the radio front Jim was eyeing an AM station to pair with the FM. Late in the summer of 1987 WJJY 1270AM launched as a classic oldies station. Soon it would dabble in talk radio too, an early adopter of a format that would later flourish. It was at this station that the family business really started to take shape. Little Stephanie now old enough for her first job, joined the operation as an audio board operator, later Jeff would follow suit as well, and so too would their soon to come sibling.

In 1989 Mitchell Pryor burst onto the scene, a late addition to Jim and Mary's parenthood; his arrival would spur even more galavanting across county borders, state parks and thrifting expeditions.

As the '90s flew by Jim and Mary sold the FM station and focused their energies on 1270AM, changing the call letters to WWWI - 3Wi for short. The next addition to the family was 3Wi 95.9 FM. Both stations went exclusively Talk format and the family run enterprise once again prided itself on serving the community with fundraising drives, local sports and Lakes Area politics.

The WJJY days and the 3Wi era had one major thing in common. Jim and Mary's welcoming style of ownership created a family atmosphere for everyone who worked there. Lines blurred as all the kids worked for the Stations in different capacities large and small. Friends became co-workers and the reverse too. A day at a Pryor radio station was part job, part gab fest, part therapy session, and enough fun characters - between salesmen & women, on air talent and part timers - to keep every swing of the door opening something to look forward to.

Fatherhood suited Jim, even while he hadn't had much example to go off of himself. He watched the Vikings and tossed the football around with Jeff, talked about the universe and life stuff with Stephanie K. from the Milky Way, and delved into military history with Mitch.

He went to car shows with his restored '57 Oldsmobile - which later gave way to a '69 Nova reclamation project. Boundary waters hiking trips, long drives fiddling with the radio dial, saxophone now with the Swinging Sertomans band and still always dreaming big and small. Asking people what their goals were and actually listening. Actually caring.

Years flew by with all the joys, stresses, challenges and successes of running your own business and creating an ecosystem of livelihood and fun for your family and staff (terms which remained almost interchangeable).

His brother Gene passed away in 1994.

Truly his only family left at that point was the one he had created for himself. Soon enough his grandkids were hanging around the radio station occasionally too.

He loved to work. He loved radio. And so it was especially hard when Jim had a stroke in 2013 and had to walk away from his radio stations. Forced into an uneasy retirement, this sudden health deficit changed much of what he could do. Over time, driving was no longer an option. And so his love of cars and being out on the road was curbed.

Lingering effects from the stroke and old age nipped away at memories, words and freedom.

A late in life surprise brought the revelation of his father's identity. Jim had never given up hope in tracking down the man who he had never met and knew almost nothing of. All he had been told was that his dad shared his same name, that the fellow hailed from Kentucky and whose picture he had in the form of two little photo-booth images.

Every family vacation included Jim flipping through the hotel phonebook to see if there was a "Pryor" to cold call and ask if they knew of an older James. Decades of wondering, failed search attempts and no leads.

Then in 2020 a DNA match turned up a strong connection to a young woman with the Pryor surname in her family history. After a brief back and forth by the younger generation of Pryor's, soon she was showing her mother and great aunt the photo Jim had of his father.

That Great Aunt of her's turned out to be Jim's sister. Two brothers he had never known landed in Minnesota not long after to meet Jim and tell him about his dad. They told him of the two other half brothers he had who had already passed away too. None of them had known about Jim either.

Jim, Mary and their kids drove cross country that summer to meet the extended Pryor family. They visited his father's grave and met generations of the family he had always hoped to find. Over the coming years Jim talked often on the phone with his new brothers Hal and Rick, and his sister Toy.

That this lifelong quest and great mystery was finally resolved was an exciting new frontier to explore and he welcomed it with warmth and curiosity.

The hallmark of Jim's life was his enthusiasm and aspirational outlook. It allowed him to chase and achieve his radio dreams, hound and win over his dream girl, pursue and locate his father and further family.

Though his physical and mental decline took a toll, through it all Jim never lost sight of the things he loved most… music and his family.

Over the last decade of his life, the Mary he chose to marry, watched out for him, helped him when he needed it and proved, though it was never in any doubt, that she was the love of his life. Through 56 yrs of marriage, at different times they each took care of one another. A partnership that is undying and unbreakable.

The characteristic that most typifies Jim as a human being is his unfailing sense of positivity. His determination, his perseverance, his stubbornness, but always his happy go lucky demeanor and above all his belief that good things would happen.

In the end, the decades of experiences, recollections and ingrained behaviors that accrue in us all and seemingly make us… us - were slowly drawn away from him like curtains. What was left to be revealed, the true Jim, boiled down to his essence, in all its beauty, was a being of pure optimism. A smile and a light heart.

He is survived by his many friends, his brothers Rick, Hal and sister Toy, the extended Pryor family, his Grand daughters, Sophia, Ava and Lila. By His three children Steph, Jeff and Mitch. And by his beloved wife Mary.