Pratt is a sept, or splinter family, of the Scottish Clan Grant whose tartan borders this page. The motto of the clan is "Craigelachie!" which means "Stand Fast!"

I never really understood what it meant to be Scots until I met my future father-in-law. "Scotsmen are Scots! Scotch is what Scots drink!" Well, maybe he didn't actually say that; I think my wife did. But Bill was pure Scots.

He was small in stature, just five foot six or so. But well proportioned, even barrel-chested, with a salt and pepper mustache that was perfect for his face. He almost always had a twinkle in his eye and a love for puns and golf and fishing.

Bill was born and raised in Edinburgh Scotland. His family was a typical upper middle-class commercial buisness one. They owned their own electric motor firm, Pratt Brothers Electric. In 1914, Bill accompanied his father to New York on business. While there, the first world war errupted and all shipping of and by belligerent nations was embargoed. Bill couldn't go home.

Of course, President Wilson wasn't that mean. Word was recieved by Bill's father that, if he was on the docks at a certain time, he and Bill would have transport home. The ship they sailed on was the Mauritania, sister ship to the Lusitania later sunk by German U-boats. Bill told me that he had explored all of that ship and had found she was outfitted with gun implacements to make her a light cruiser or armed troop ship. She was never used in that capacity but it did put the lie to English denials that the Lusitania was an innocent victium of German agression.

After the war, in young adulthood, Bill fled a difficult family situation, a harsh step-mother, by emigrating to Canada. There he worked as a night clerk in a hotel and studied accounting by correspondence school. For a couple of years during the worst of the Great Depression, Bill panned for gold during the summers, earning enough to live on through the winters. He had married during this time, had one daughter, and eventually had to file for divorce.

In 1939, when Canada declared war on Germany, Bill enlisted in the Canadian Army, serving in the First Battalion, A Company, Active Army Service; better known as the Rocky Mountain Rangers.

I haven't Bill's service record but hope to obtain it some day. I know he served at Deneppe in '43 and during D-Day +3 in 1944 and up to Operation Market Garden. He rose to the rank of Sergenent Major and was every bit the image of that fine rank.

After the war, Bill became a field accountant in heavy construction. Working for Stone and Webster, he was invited to come to the United States around 1956. Eventually, Bill became an American citizen in order to continue to work here.

In 1968, Bill retired from Stone and Webster, selecting Oroville, California as a good retirement site. Plenty of fishing, golf, and agreeable climate. He also aquired a son-in-law (me).

For nearly twenty years, Bill enjoyed an active retirement. He participated in the Trinity Presbrytarian Church, golfed several times a week, and fished regularly. He died of cancer in the summer of 1987.