Jerald Pratt

Jerald Lee Pratt, 82, died Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at his home in Long Beach, California, after five months of declining health attributed to an elusive cancer. Jerry died peacefully in home hospice care, surrounded by his wife Sharon, son Jon, and daughter Maria.

Jerry was born February 22, 1942 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Robert Edgar and Louise Jeannette Pratt (née Huff). He spent his childhood as an Iowa farm boy, but left the farm with his family to settle in De Witt, Iowa during his sophomore year of high school. Here he joined the graduating class of 1960, where his willingness to dissect a frog endeared him to his wife-to-be, Sharon Kay Runge. Young romance ensued and after graduation Jerry and Sharon married and moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. At Keesler Air Force Base, Jerry studied electronics, and the two started a family with the birth of their son, Jon in 1961. Jerry’s work on the avionics for C-140 transports took him next to Charleston, South Carolina where their daughter Maria was born in 1963.

After discharge, the young family returned to De Witt, with Jerry starting his long career in manufacturing and electronics at Eagle Signal, in Davenport, Iowa. Eventually the family moved to Bettendorf, where Jerry worked for various manufacturing firms in the Quad Cities. With kids in college and opportunities in the midwest declining, Jerry answered an ad in the paper that led to a maintenance management position with Hughes aircraft in El Segundo, California. The sunshine, vibes and opportunities of Southern California appealed to Jerry and Sharon, and they settled into a wonderful, supportive neighborhood in Long Beach. It was here that he retired from his career maintaining the things that make things in 2004.

Jerry loved to talk with anyone and everyone and was renowned for his homespun turns of phrase, his mustache (proudly and prominently curled into handlebars throughout the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s) and his many hobbies and interests maintained throughout his life. These included gymnastics (he coached for many years), camping and hiking in the Rockies with his family, ballroom dancing, and most recently, traveling in an RV throughout the United States with his wife and their beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgi dogs. In fact, for the past several years, the two were effectively bicoastal, establishing a residence in their RV each summer among a lively, supportive community of herding enthusiasts based in New Jersey.

Jerry was very proud of the achievements of his children and their children: Jon and Naomi’s family, Wynnona (Jedidiah Weeks) , Rory (Daniel Willey), and Musetta Engle-Pratt, and Maria and Greg’s family, Claire Mullet (Jeremy Mullet) and Helena Pratt Holmberg. Very recently, he was often delighted by the antics of yet another generation, Wynnona and Jed’s three-year-old son Amos Weeks. Perhaps the thing that Jerry is best known for by folks outside his family, was successfully working with his plucky Corgi Fitz to compete against Border Collies on their home turf, herding sheep, cattle, and ducks, for which the duo won numerous awards and an AKC championship.

Jerry is survived by his beloved wife of 63 years, Sharon, their children and their families, and his sister, Roberta Barber.

Arrangements are in the care of Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt. Condolences may be expressed at www.schultzfuneralhomes.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jerald Pratt, please visit our floral store.