Robert Chester Pratt

Robert Chester Pratt passed away in his sleep following a short illness on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 in Westbrook, Maine. Born on November 16, 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to chester and Merle Pratt, he spent some of his childhood in Santa Monica, CA, where he shook hands with a young Mickey Maguire before he became Mickey Rooney. He and his family made the trek across the country in a Ford Model A in 1931 landing in his motherâ€™s home state of Maine. When the country entered World War II he enlisted in the Navy. He had his choice between submarines and PT boats. Not relishing the idea of spending weeks underwater, he instead chose to glide across the waves in an 80 foot plywood boat hunting for enemy subs in the pacific. He was once moored next to Kennedyâ€™s boat post PT109. On leave during the war he married the love of his life Charlotte Elaine Jordan on December 21st 1944. They honeymooned in North Conway NH. After an honorable discharge he had a short stint as a cartoonist in Washington before working in construction in Maine retiring from the Portland housing department where he had been a housing inspector. In his retirement he continued to improve the grounds of his Westbrook home going down to the sandpit behind it and bringing a couple loads a day up to the property for landscaping until he was no longer able. He enjoyed traveling and had taken in the sights across Europe and the Caribbean and fulfilled a wish to visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras. He was a mainstay in the choir at Prides Corner Church and has rekindled his love of art and sailing during this time. In the spirit of his love of gliding across the waves beyond the sandbar at high tide we offer these lines of Tennyson. Crossing the Bar Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for Me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For thoâ€™ from out our bourne of Time and Place, The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face, When I have crost the bar. He is survived by his adoring wife Charlotte, his four children Leslie, Kimberly, Kathy and bill and their families which beyond their spouses includes five grandchildren, three great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. Memorial donations may be made in his honor to the Prides Corner Congregational Church or your favorite charity.