Carol Pratt

Carol Pratt

Carol Copeland Pratt died just after midnight, Oct. 18, 2020, two weeks short of her 82nd birthday. For the last 10 years, she waged a valiant battle against daunting health challenges, never losing her love for life.

Born in Portland, Maine, she was raised on Munjoy Hill when it was a diverse working class community. In her teens, her family moved to West Falmouth where she had to bicycle miles to find friends. She attended Falmouth High School, then Waynflete School where, at a Hebron Academy dance, she met her future husband, Mason Pratt, then of Cape Elizabeth. High school sweethearts, they were inseparable. Their storybook romance included summer dances at the Old Orchard Beach pier, and trips to Moosehead Lake and Mount Desert Island. While attending Portland School of Art and Westbrook College, Carol would take the train from Portland to Brunswick for weekend college fraternity parties. They wrote letters to each other daily and married before his senior year at Bowdoin College.

They spent almost three years at Fort Bragg, N.C., and three more at Harvard Law School - Carol loved her walks around Cambridge, her two sons Ben and Steph in a stroller. In 1967, they returned to Portland. In 1968, she had a third son, Edward "Ted." While Mason practiced law, Carol took secretarial jobs and volunteered at Maine Medical Center, where "she always showed up, even in a blizzard," said her friend Alice Hart. A member of the Junior League, she served on hospital committees and as a docent for the art museum.

A talented artist, she sacrificed her career to raise their three boys. She once quipped, "Even my dog is male." Her sons recall how she taught them to fight their own battles and to respect others. Ben says, "There was this frail older woman outside our house. Mom told me to go out and bring her a glass of water, and I didn't want to. She made me go." Stephan recalls he once hid behind the back door to escape from a bully. "She made me go out there and deal with him." He adds, "She cultivated an appreciation for the arts in our family, and it's because of her that I'm an artist today."

This September, Carol and Mason celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

In late October she was hospitalized when her heart almost stopped beating, until a new pacemaker saved her. She was a tough, but her long medical saga had taken its toll, and she knew it was time to come home to the Lord. In his memoir, Mason writes:

"Carol [had] what I've called a loveable, feisty nature ... Like a lioness, she fought fiercely. For our children. For me. For our marriage. Ever since April 2011, she's been a lioness in winter. Still feisty, steeled by life, her iron mettle forged by life's furnace, but tamed and mellowed by life's battles. Like river rocks, their edges become smooth stones.

Upon her death, her many friends sent supporting messages.

Janet Russell Colby wrote, "She was not only beautiful, but also LOVING, KIND and a precious friend."

Sarah Mackie wrote: "She was such a good friend ... and kind. She once drove to pick me up from college for my birthday weekend so I wouldn't be homesick. She was great company and made my 18th birthday fun!"

Becki Smith said, "Carol was a firecracker. I thought the world of her because, in many ways, she lived her life exactly the way she wanted to."

Her daughter-in-law, Manon LaPointe Pratt said, "She was just so classy. Generous to a fault, she once bought me something exquisite and very expensive; when I protested, she whispered, 'Not a word to Mason!'"

John Philbrick called her "smart, funny, and generous."

Others simply "adored" her. They described her as "stylish," "glamorous," "sharp," "cute," "beautiful," "one-of-a-kind," "a friend." They loved her "lack of pretension."

Carol Dumas, having learned of Carol's struggles in a writer's group at St. Simons Island, Ga., wrote, "You two had a love affair others can only dream of."

One of the poems Mason wrote to her ends with this tribute:

" . . . you are my sunshine, my summer, my fall,

My goodness, my kindness, my compass, my all."

Her mother Rachel Copeland predeceased her, and Carol continued to grieve for her. She adored her sons, Ben, Stephan, and Ted (Ted passed away in May 2020); Ben's wife Suzanna and Steph's wife Manon; Carol's four granddaughters, Caitlin Pratt (an artist), Sylvie Pratt (a student at New York University's Tisch School and a professional actor), Carolyn Wingate and Amy Dieter (both with successful careers); and her grandson, Phineas Henri Pratt (a senior and baseball player at Bates College). She also leaves behind four great-grandchildren, Mason and Sam Wingate and Layla and Sophie Dieter; her brother, Robert Copeland; her sister, Cynthia Watson; and her cousin, Deborah Bruno, her husband, Dr. Felice Bruno, and their daughter, Dr. Natalie Bruno.

A private funeral Mass to celebrate her life will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020 at Sacred Heart Church, Mellen Street, Portland. Due to gathering restrictions, it is limited to family and friends by invitation only. Friends who would like to attend may contact Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home at (207) 773-6511 or may join the celebration by livestream at www.facebook.com/conroytullywalker.

To view Carol's memorial page or to share an online condolence, please visit www.ConroyTullyWalker.com. If you would like to share a personalized video with the family please visit https://flipgrid.com/732b9217 and enter the access code 732b9217.

A private burial service will follow at the Pratt Family Burial Ground at North Norway, Maine.

Family-placed obituary

The Brunswick News, October 24, 2020