Dorothy Pratt

ORONO - Dorothy Elliot Pratt died late Wednesday night, June 25, 2025, at the tender age of 103. She was born Oct. 12, 1921, in Millinocket, daughter of Marian Russell Harris and Albert Irving Harris.

Dorothy received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Tufts University in 1943. She married Darrell Bradford Pratt in 1943 and remained happily married to him until his death in 2005. She pursued Master's degree courses at Purdue from 1944-1945. From 1945-51, she and Darrell lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she worked as a chemist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and taught chemistry to returning veterans at Northeastern University. Darrell's career as a professor of biochemistry led to residences around the country. In 1952 she and Darrell moved to Austin, Texas, and a year later in 1953 they went to Gainesville, Florida. A lifelong reader of mysteries and novels, in Gainesville she first joined the Friends of the Library. She became politically active, joining the League of Women Voters, with her activities including volunteering to drive black women to the polls. In 1956-1957, she and Darrell spent a year at the University of Leeds, England, where she worked in the lab of E.G. Cox on x-ray crystallography. Dorothy and Darrell returned to Gainesville and in October of 1957, she gave birth to Dexter Roydon Pratt. In 1966, the family spent a year in Houston, followed in 1967 by their move to Orono, Maine where Darrell chaired the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Maine. Dorothy became an instructor in the Biochemistry department and later in the Chemistry department, becoming a favorite of the students she guided through their required chemistry classes. An early member of MacBang, the Bangor area Macintosh User Group, Dorothy volunteered as a computer helper at Asa Adams Elementary School for many years. Dorothy joined the Friends of the Orono Public Library and became its secretary and newsletter editor. She was a leader in the effort to build the "new" Orono Public Library and later the "Orono Cooks" cookbook fundraiser.

She is survived by her son, Dexter; and grandsons, Eric and Jared Pratt; and by her daughter-in-law, Margie Ploch; also by her sister, Lucille Vaas; and by Vaas, Comstock, and Harris family nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Darrell; her brothers, Lester and Ralph; and her sister, Marian.

A celebration of her life will be held at 2 pm, on Sunday, September 7, 2025 at Dirigo Pines, 9 Alumni Drive, Orono. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments following the celebration. Gifts in her memory may be made to the Orono Library Foundation, OPLF, PO Box 308, Orono, ME 04473-0308, or online at https://new.oronolibraryfoundation.org/give/. These gifts would support the expansion of the library, in which Dorothy was very interested.