(Host) One of Rutland’s oldest and most respected physicians died Saturday at the age of 88. Dr. William Pratt saw patients in Rutland for over 40 years before retiring in 1991.
VPR’s Nina Keck has this remembrance.
(Keck) Bill Pratt, as he was known to his friends, was born in Rutland in 1920. He went to college and medical school at the University of Vermont before serving in the U-S Army Medical Corps during World War Two. He began practicing in Rutland in 1949. At the time, he was the only board certified internal medicine physician in the county. Dr. Gordon Kelly, a retired ophthalmologist, says Pratt was like the unofficial dean of medicine in Rutland.
(Kelly) "He was a remarkable man – everybody knew he was an excellent doctor – but he was a very energetic, very funny, very well read individual. The kind of person who when you had a conversation with him you always feel as though you were a little out of breath and had to run to keep up."
(Keck) Pratt was also a skilled athlete who loved to play tennis and golf. Arthur Wolk, a retired Rutland pediatrician grew up with Pratt and was a lifelong friend.
(Wolk) "Bill was one of the most intelligent guys I knew. And he was extremely well read and he was especially well read about conservative politics. And it was great fun to be at our "ROMEO" luncheons – that’s Retired Old Men Eating Out – and Bill would frequently be the only real conservative there – or maybe be one of two. And the rest of us would sort of be ganging up on him – but we would never win because he was so well informed."
(Keck) Dr. William Pratt is survived by his wife, Margaret, seven children, ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held later this month. No date for that has been set.
For VPR news, I’m Nina Keck in Rutland.