Douglas "Doug" Pratt

1933 - 2025

News story
By Felicia L. Mason
Blade Staff Writer

Douglas "Doug" Pratt, a Perrysburg Township farmer who with his wife donated 160 acres of their land in order to preserve green space in Wood County, died Nov. 29. He was 92.

Mr. Pratt was an everyman in the Perrysburg area, said his longtime friend and estate executor Bruce Rutter.

"He was a good man who loved his community," Mr. Rutter said.

In addition to farming soy, corn, and wheat, Mr. Pratt drove a bus for Perrysburg schools for 50 years, served as a volunteer firefighter for 32 years with the city's fire department, and was an amateur pilot. He was also a special deputy for the Wood County Sheriff's Office. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and was active with the American Legion.

"His barn was the meeting place of Perrysburg," Mr. Rutter said. "Anybody who was anybody came to the farm to talk to him, including the governor, Gov. Mike DeWine. You never knew if the mayor, the farmer next door, or the police would stop by to chat."

The two met about three decades ago when a friend took Mr. Rutter to Mr. Pratt's barn to work on a car.

"We worked on the car and kept going back," he said. "I had a standing appointment. Every Tuesday we'd talk and others would drift in. We just talked about general things, never politics or religion."

Melanie Ayers Calevro recalled the good times she had with her cousin. She and Mr. Pratt worked on family history projects together, and she said she'll miss their adventures.


Core values


Mrs. Calevro said what she remembers most about her cousin are the core values he lived by.

"The farm, the family, and heritage. He served country, community, and family," she said. "Those core values epitomized an American patriot, community leader, and such a gentleman."

Another longtime friend, Becky Williams, first met Mr. Pratt via a breakfast club that gathered every morning at what was then Charlie's Restaurant in Perrysburg. She said he was a humble person who knew everybody in town through his volunteer work, as bus driver, and as the man who with his tractor plowed snow for no charge for seniors and others.

"We were golf cart drivers at the Wood County Fair. We'd pick up people, seniors, families with kids for at least 15 years," she said. "He knew everybody at the fairgrounds."

He was such a beloved member of the community that "when he started failing in the last six months, we'd just leave the door unlocked and people would come visit," Mr. Rutter said.

Those visits were reminiscent of Mr. Pratt visiting with others, he said.

"He loved to go to Costco, buy a hot dog combo for $1.50, sit and drink and talk to people," Mr. Rutter said. They'd come up and say hello and it was someone from his bus. "He'd say, 'Oh, that's Kevin,' someone he drove 50 years ago. I don't think it was ever a job to him. He did it to give back to the community."

A cause of death for Mr. Pratt was not available, but Mr. Rutter said his friend had a weak heart.

"Forty or 50 years ago he had a major heart attack, and they told him never to have a procedure because it would kill him. They did not expect him to live," he said, but he did. "Whenever somebody died, he always said at the barn, 'Everybody gets a turn.'"


The lighter side


Known for his community service as an adult, Mr. Pratt had a mischievous streak while growing up, his younger brother George Pratt said. "Doug was 5 years and four days older than me," he said.

One of his best memories of his older brother was an incident the younger Pratt says he got blamed for.

"I was young and he was a teenager. He grabbed a live sparrow and put it in my mother's purse. She walked into a store and opened that purse to pay for something and that bird flew out. It took about two hours to get that bird, that caused some damage," he said. "After that, whenever she went to that store, she had to stand outside, call the owner over, and open her purse."

A nephew, Bruce Pratt of Bowling Green, said the pranks continued Mr. Pratt's entire life.

"Uncle Doug had a huge sense of humor and it wasn't always favorable for the person being pranked," he said with a laugh. "No one was immune to it. It just depended on who was in his sight."

Both brother and nephew recalled a Christmas Eve incident involving a "limb" on the farm that needed to be cut down, a front loader with George in the bucket, and what turned out to be a hornet's nest. No one was injured.

"Uncle George screamed and was about to jump out of that bucket. It was funny," Bruce said. "He was a good guy who will be sorely missed."


Deep roots


Mr. Pratt was born in his family's house on March 13, 1933, to Fred and Mabel Pratt. He was one of four children.

The Pratt family roots run deep in the area. So deep that it was John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, who signed the land deed to William Pratt for the homestead. Mr. Pratt's great-great grandfather was a veteran of the War of 1812 and fought at Fort Meigs. The Pratt House on Prairie Hull Road dates to 1825 and is one of the oldest in the area.

Family members recently celebrated the farm's 200th official anniversary, Mrs. Calevro said.

Mr. Pratt married Mary Ellen Kramer of Bowling Green in 1958.

"Doug and his wife Mary Ellen never had any kids," Mr. Rutter said. "They felt like the community was their family."

Twenty years ago, he said, they decided they wanted to leave their family a gift after their deaths. And in 2016, the couple donated their entire 160-acre farm to Wood County for the express purpose of maintaining green space.

"What can you do with it other than make a park of it," Mr. Pratt told Wood County Park District commissioners in a Blade story at the time. "We don't want it made into housing."

The couple was adamant that their land not be swallowed up into Perrysburg's suburban sprawl. The park district approved the agreement in June of that year.

"We don't have any children," Mrs. Pratt was quoted in The Blade as saying. "We figure we have to give to the community in other ways. This is another way to keep giving long after we are gone. We will still be giving."

Mrs. Pratt, a retired school teacher, died in 2023 at 84.

In May, the Wood County Park District commissioners held their meeting at the farm, in the garage of the Prairie Hull Road house with Mr. Pratt sitting in the back. Land use was on the agenda.

Chris Smalley, director of the park district, said the Pratt property, which is landlocked by subdivisions and a school, was a "blank slate" for walking trails, athletic fields, or a water feature. "It's an open book, which, quite frankly, is an amazing gift."

Mr. Pratt is survived by his brother George Pratt of Arvada, Colo., three nephews, and two nieces.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Flag City Honor Flight, the Hospice of Northwest Ohio, or the Wood County Humane Society.