RI woman killed in Vermont ax-attack
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A former Rhode Island woman who was killed in an ax attack at a Vermont homeless shelter Monday was described as kind, smart and compassionate by those who knew her.
Leah Rosin-Pritchard touched a lot of different lives in Rhode Island with her varied background as a high school volleyball coach, baker, instructor and social worker.
In what she described as her second career, Rosin-Pritchard was working as the coordinator at the Morningside House shelter in Brattleboro when she was killed, allegedly by a shelter resident.
Leah Rosin-Pritchard’s background in Rhode Island
A graduate of North Kingstown High School and Rhode Island College, Rosin-Pritchard had worked in Rhode Island as the volleyball coach at Middletown High School, an intern at Amos House, and an instructor at Newport Cooks.
Rosin-Pritchard, an all-state high-school volleyball player in 2004, took the coaching job at Middletown High School in 2013 with no previous coaching experience. She took to coaching quickly, Karen Massaro, the school’s athletic director, said Wednesday.
“She was great. The kids loved her,” Massaro said. “She knew the sport and did a great job. When she left, we were sad.”
Massaro had been coach of the volleyball team, but had to give it up when she became athletic director. Rosin-Pritchard replaced her, coaching from 2013 through 2015.
The news of Rosin-Pritchard’s death dealt a hard emotional blow to several school staffers, Massaro said. Her father, David Pritchard, was a longtime teacher and coach at the school. He was his daughter’s assistant volleyball coach and also returned after retirement to volunteer as a basketball coach, Massaro said.
“This family gives,” Massaro said. “It’s very hard knowing what they’re going through with everything they’ve given to their communities.”
Rosin-Pritchard could teach teenagers to play volleyball and she could also teach people to cook. She worked for several years as an adjunct chef/instructor at Newport Cooks, a culinary school in Middletown, according to owner Mary Weaver.
“Leah was even keeled, professional, kind, generous, smart, well spoken, talented and truly genuine – to herself and others – to the core,” Weaver said via email.
She also owned Leah’s Recipe, a healthy snacks baking company, according to Weaver.
“I’m in shock over her tragic death and the circumstances,” Weaver said.
Rosin-Pritchard interned with Amos House, worked at shelter in Vermont
On her LinkedIn page, Rosin-Pritchard described herself as “a former baker, coach, and entrepreneur.” She wrote that she was a December 2020 graduate of Tulane University’s MSW program with a certificate in Disaster and Collective Trauma.
“Beginning my second career in social work, I believe in implementing all I have learned thus far and integrating my skills in a space where I can be of service to the community,” she wrote.
While working toward her master’s degree, Rosin-Pritchard interned in 2020 at Amos House, a Providence nonprofit agency that serves the…
Read More: RI woman killed in Vermont ax-attack 2023-04-07 17:23:12