MRS. CHARLOTTE SUMNER PRATT

died on her 93rd birthday, September 25, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida after a long period of declining health. Mrs. Pratt was born at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, on September 25, 1917, to Major Edwin Vose Sumner III and Helen Munn Sumner. Following the untimely death of her father in France at the close of World War I, Mrs. Pratt, her mother, and her brother moved to Louisville, Kentucky and lived for a number of years in Mrs. Sumner's childhood home, surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and many friends. As a child, Mrs. Pratt lived for a time in post-war Italy, where she became fluent in Italian. Following her graduation from high school, Mrs. Pratt moved to New York City to become a ballet dancer, joined the American Ballet, and also danced in a number of musical Broadway shows in New York and elsewhere. By the age of 21, realizing that ballet was not her lifelong calling, Mrs. Pratt became an officer in the newly-formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), thereby being the first woman to follow in the long tradition of Sumner Army Officers. The then Captain Sumner met her future husband, career Army officer, then-Major Charles Henry Pratt, when both were stationed in St. Augustine, Florida during World War II. Following a six-week romance, they began their 61-year marriage, which ended with Colonel Pratt's demise at the age of 92 in Claremont, California in 2003. During their military life together, the Pratts and their four children live in Washington, D.C., Paris, France and Quito, Ecuador. Mrs. Pratt became fluent in both Spanish and French. Following Colonel Pratt's retirement in 1965, the couple lived variously in Prescott, Lake Havasu City, and Scottsdale, Arizona. In 2002, they made their final move together to reside at Sunrise Assisted Living of Claremont, California. Mrs. Pratt moved to Jacksonville in March 2010 to be closer to one of her daughters, granddaughters, and great-grandchildren, and had been residing at Sunrise of Jacksonville prior to her death. Wherever she went, Mrs. Pratt became well-known, respected, and loved for her elegant manners, gentle disposition, and unending concern for the wellbeing of others. She was ever the gracious hostess as well as a talented painter, seamstress, knitter, and needlepoint artist. Mrs. Pratt loved reading , crossword puzzles, gardening, traveling the Arizona back roads, community volunteerism, community theater, local and national politics, studying the history of the American Civil War, attending symphonies, taking evening walks, and writing frequent long-hand letters to her family and friends. Mrs. Pratt was predeceased by her mother and father, husband, and daughter Marie Pratt Buchanan. She is survived by her brother Edwin Vose Sumner IV of Fountain Valley, California, daughters Judith Sumner Pratt of Jacksonville, Florida and Sarah Pratt Jamison of Harker Heights, Texas, and her son Thomas Sumner Pratt of Sacramento, California. Additional survivors include her grandchildren Sarah Marie Johnston (Tom Gray), Ann, Kate, and Jennifer Jamison, Helen Skelton, Charlotte and Harlan Buchanan, and Zach Pratt, several great-grandchildren, and her beloved California caregiver, Femy Canlas. Despite being increasingly incapacitated by Alzheimer's, Mrs. Pratt relished her friendships with the staff, management, and fellow-residents at Sunrise of Jacksonville, all of whom enriched the final months of her life beyond measure. In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association of Jacksonville, 4237 Salisbury Rd., Suite #310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216. Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 in Oaklawn Cemetery. Oaklawn Cemetery & Funeral Home, 4801 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida 32207.