ORONO – Darrell Bradford Pratt died late Wednesday night, March 23, 2005, at Orono Commons, a local health care facility. He was born Oct. 22, 1920, in Millinocket, the son of Roydon Carl Pratt and Della Bradford Downing. Darrell received a bachelor of science degree, cum laude, in bacteriology from the University of Maine in 1942, an master of science degree in bacteriology and biochemistry from Purdue University in 1945, and a Ph.D. in medical sciences from Harvard University in 1951. His research involved marine microbiology, with emphasis on bacterial nutrition. Upon completing post-doctoral work at the University of Texas in Austin, he taught bacteriology at the University of Florida. He spent 1957 as a visiting professor of biochemistry at the University of Leeds in England. In 1966, he became professor of bacteriology at the University of Houston. He returned to the University of Maine in 1967 as chairman of the bacteriology department and retired as emeritus professor of microbiology and zoology in 1985. Throughout his career, he enjoyed teaching and advising students. Darrell was a lifelong golfer, starting in the 1930s at the newly created Hillcrest Golf Course in Millinocket where for eight summers he was greenskeeper and caddy master. In the summer of 1940, he set a 9-hole course record at Hillcrest. He later established a new course record at the Milo Golf Course. In his teens, he learned some of the finer points of the golf swing from Charlie Emery, who later became the pro at the Penobscot Valley Golf Club. In August 1998, the Katahdin Times published Darrell’s articles, “Early Days at Hillcrest Golf Course,” which detailed not only the construction of the course, but the personalities of many of the founding members. After returning to Maine in 1967, Darrell became a member of the Penobscot Valley Golf Club. His interest in classical music began in high school, when he listened to the Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. He taught himself to read music and to play his father’s trombone. For several summers he played in the Millinocket band, and for a year with the University of Maine band. Darrell’s passion for painting developed into a full-time hobby when he retired. He painted watercolors of many subjects: parrots, landscapes, and Mt. Katahdin scenes decorated the walls of his home. Friends often urged him to sell his paintings, but he preferred to give them as gifts: his nieces and nephews were delighted to receive his paintings as presents. For several years friends and family have enjoyed his artwork reproduced on Christmas and birthday cards created on a computer. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his son, Dexter; and grandsons, Eric and Jared Pratt; and by his daughter-in-law, Margie Ploch; also by his cousins, James Pratt, Roland Russell, Earlene Russell Sawyer, Phyllis Hall; and by Downing cousins, Marie Aucoin, Maryrose Morrison, Eleanor Green, and Jack Downing. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 2, 2005, at Brookings-Smith, LaBeau Chapel, 72 Main St., Orono. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments at the same facility following the service. Gifts in his memory may be sent to the Friends of the Orono Public Library, Goodridge Drive, Orono, ME 04473.
DARRELL B. PRATT
