Doris Pratt

     On the morning of September 24, 2020, Doris Pratt of Northwood, ND was called home to heaven. A private family interment will be held at Zion Lutheran Cemetery of rural Dahlen, North Dakota. In lieu of flowers please send memorials to the Salvation Army.

     Doris was born on a small farm near Dahlen, North Dakota to Andrew and Hilda Urness on March 5, 1931. Doris attended Dahlen Public School, graduating high school with 4 classmates in 1949. She attended Mayville State College and earned her 2-year teaching certificate. In 1952 Doris began her teaching career in Leeds, ND and discovered that teaching was her true calling. Doris also taught in Leonard, ND and Milnor, ND, before permanently settling in Northwood, ND in 1966. While teaching in Northwood, Doris continued her education at Mayville State College earning her Bachelors degree in Education with a minor in Library.

     In 1975, Doris met Lyle Pratt on a dark, rainy, summer night while rescuing a car that their daughters had driven into a ditch. They immediately “hit it off” and were married on Aug. 29, 1981 at the Northwood Evangelical Lutheran Church. Together they were “two peas in a pod” and had a very happy life together.

     After 38 years of teaching 1st and 2nd graders, Doris retired in 1990. For many years after she would watch the children walk to school past her living room window, lamenting that she missed her “little ones”. She truly enjoyed all of her students. One of her favorite hobbies was quilting with her church circle. She made hundreds of quilts and was happy that she could help those in need. Doris also enjoyed tending to her garden, baking and cheering on the UND hockey team.

     Doris is survived by Lyle, her husband of 39 years; daughter Karla Johnson (Kevin) of Vallejo, CA; son Jon Grund (Rhonda) of Laguna Hills, CA; and sisters-in-law Joyce Urness of Elmhurst, IL and Ruth Jacobson of Northwood, ND. She gained three more loving children through her marriage with Lyle; Randy Pratt (Barb) of Mitchell, SD, Robin Pratt (Dixie) of Northwood, ND and Carrie McDonald (Tom) of East Grand Forks, MN. Doris was blessed with and loved by 11 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents Andrew and Hilda Urness; parent-in-law Barbara Grund; sister Bertha Welch; brothers Arnold (Louise); Herman (Ruth); Alton.