Stephen Alan PRATT

1949 - 2019

PRATT, Stephen Alan

who died at 69, March 30, 2019, was born in Clarksburg, WV, October 22, 1949.

Steve was the son of the late Dr. Arden Lee Pratt and Jean Allen Pratt; and is survived by his daughter, Jennifer Elin Taitt (Duncan); sisters, Cynthia Henderson (Tom Malmlund) of Los Angeles, Leslie Pratt (Pamela McCain) of Plant City; and his aunt, Caroll Spring of Plant City.

After graduating from Bethlehem Central High School in Albany, NY he spent a year traveling the world and living abroad with his parents and sisters, touring Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Calcutta, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, and the U.K.

Steve enlisted in the Navy in 1969 and began his training at the Great Lakes Naval Station where he earned his dolphins, volunteering for service in the elite submarine corps. He served on the USS Trepang, a fast attack nuclear submarine. Its main mission was the strategic defense of America. Other missions included performing scientific experiments and intelligence gathering in the the North Atlantic, Caribbean and the Mediterranean. In 1971 while at Great Lakes, he married Jennifer's mother, former spouse Kim (Kimmel) Pratt of Safety Harbor, FL.

After the Navy, Steve was employed by Unisys, a worldwide technology company, working in Florida, Saudi Arabia, and Ventura, CA where he became an expert technical writer, documenting complicated software manuals and training materials. In 1989 he married former spouse and dear friend, Lori Valentine of Palm Harbor. He then went on to write for a variety of industries including defense, manufacturing and consumer services. Steve retired in 2015.

He loved to travel. His most recent international trip was to the Holy Land in November of 2017. Steve also had a life long fascination with space exploration (most recently the Space-X launches, where he would follow live feeds of the launches, even if they were in the middle of the night). He loved British murder mysteries, Pink Floyd, Facebook, sci-fi/alien movies, and the Hallmark Channel. (yes, you read that right). His extensive library of books and his movie collection were a constant joy to him.

He loved theological research and Bible study, and never missed starting each day with morning devotions.

A private service will be held at Hopewell Memorial Gardens, Plant City. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association (https://www.heart.org), the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (https://www.nmcrs.org) or Society for St. Vincent DePaul Center of Hope (http://www.svdpccsp.org/c_hope.htm).