Vernetta I. Prindle

Vernetta “Vernie” Irene Prindle, 89, died March 18, 2017, at home in Sebring, Florida, where she resided since 1974.

Vernie was born October 27, 1927, at Burt, North Dakota to the late Leo (Lee) and Eugenia (Jane) Zentner. She was a 1945 graduate of Billings High School, Billings, MT. On August 31, 1946, she married Gerald (Jerry) O. Prindle in Columbus, MT.

Vernie and Jerry lived all over the United States and in several countries due to Jerry’s military career. She was a wonderful military wife, able to adapt and thrive with each new military move, which was often. Through the years she worked a variety of jobs: clerical, ad rep, movie theater ticket office, saleswoman at the military exchange, babysitter, carpentry, and even taxi cab driver. The job she loved most was OTR semi-truck driver. She and Jerry both went to truck driving school and got CDL licenses in 1975, when less than 1% of truck drivers were women. Accompanied by their dogs, they drove 18 wheelers throughout the U.S. as co-drivers, and later as owner-operators, until retiring in the 1980s.

Vernie had a deep love for all animals and supported several humane organizations. She rescued many cats and dogs during her lifetime, and leaves behind her beloved cats and dog, Sandy.

Survivors include two daughters and a son-in-law: Kathy Doerr, Sebring; Linda Crawford and her husband, Dennis, Las Vegas, NV; two grandsons, Thomas Gerald Crawford and Dennis Keiller Crawford, Jr.; one great-granddaughter; her brother, William Van Wieren, Billings, MT; two sisters-in-law, Dorothy Prindle and Phyllis Prindle, both of Billings, MT.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry, in 2004 and sister, Carol Mae Frank.

We are grateful to Nurse on Call for making her life better before her final illness last December, and Good Shepherd Hospice for helping her transition as peacefully as possible.

Cremation arrangements entrusted to Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home, Sebring. Inurnment at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell will follow at a later date.

Per her wishes, there will be no memorial service.