About Our Hero
BY NJEMILE Z. ALI
“Daddy, you ready to change clothes?”
“I ain’t been nowhere yet.”
Born 12/12/1925, 98-year-old Granddaddy Joseph maintains his dry sense of humor. He had been promised a ride, so he could get a little time out from the nursing home he had once insisted on having as his new home. At the time, he didn’t want to be too much trouble for his children. Second thoughts? Perhaps.
Today was KIZA photoshoot day, and his daughters had helped him make his escape to the outside. However, this first stop was Doris’ home, and did not qualify as “going out.” Several of his daughters and grandchildren surround him on this bright day, to watch and participate as their beloved elder prepares for his photoshoot.
Known by many in his community as Deacon Pratt, he is “Granddaddy” or "Pop” to the sprawling collection of descendants who look up to him, including 8 children, 24 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great-grandchildren, with one on the way. The beloved patriarch of the Pratt clan is the Rock of Ages to his many descendants and his community.
Granddaddy Joseph was born in Cuthbert, Georgia to Ned and Dora Pratt, and grew up an only child. The Pratts were sharecroppers, and Joseph was no stranger to plowing, using both mules and tractors. Surrounded by a host of uncles and aunts from both parents, young Joseph grew up to build his own large family. Joseph and his wife, Molly Pratt (now deceased), would become parents to eight children—five girls and three boys.
Grandpa Joseph through the years.
In 1957, after their first four children were born, the family moved from Cuthbert to Albany, Georgia. Mr. Pratt put his experience with driving and repairing farm equipment to use in the “big city.” He drove a wrecker, worked as a tire repair service man and laid concrete at the local Air Force base. Later, he worked in the Coats & Clark factory until he was 51 years old, retiring due to back problems that he developed on the job. Not one to be idle, he planted gardens and did light hauling for family and friends.
Deacon Pratt has always been active with his family, happily attending the frequent family outings that his wife organized. “Daddy loved baseball when he was younger,” relates Norma Jean, his fourth child, and also fourth in the string of girls who are the oldest of the Pratt 8.
Pictured from left to right are Doris, Betty and Norma Jean. The oldest and youngest girls, Josephine and Shirley, and the boys, couldn’t make it that day.
“He was a fast runner—he could run, now! Daddy was over 40 when he outran his 15-year-old grandson. He was strong, too. When we were young, he used to swing us on his muscles. He was fun, and he was also kind of strict. He used to whip me and Doris for playing marbles with the boys. We used to get in so much trouble, because he didn’t want us out there with those boys. He was just as nice as he could be, but people didn’t know he was also mean.”
Josephine, the oldest, echoes her younger sister’s sentiments. “Daddy was strict. He did not allow a lot of boys hanging around. He was a tough teacher, too. He wouldn’t let you get dependent. Before I got a driver’s license, I got a car. I was also working at Coats & Clark, and every Friday, he would come to the house and let me drive to the bank. He would be giving me instructions as I drove. On the sixth week, I said, “Daddy, are you going with me to the bank?”
“‘Naw, you can drive,’” he said.
“‘No, I can’t.’”
“‘Yes, you can.’”
“So, I got in the car and drove downtown, parked and got out. I looked back at the car and said, ‘I can drive my own car!’ And I’ve been driving ever since.”
Strolling through her memories, Josephine shares, “I had some good times with my daddy. We both liked to plant, especially seeing the plants grow. So, we did gardening together. He encouraged me to mow my own yard and he taught me about how to maintain cars. He even taught me how to cook cakes and pies. He instilled in us, ‘Don’t spend all your money in one place.’ I think everybody got that lesson, and I got it the most. I was always good with finances, and he still trusts me with his finances to this day.”
Dad Joseph & The Pratt 8. Standing (L-R): Josephine, Jonathan (“Couney”), Shirley, Julius (Tight), Norma Jean (“Nippy”) and Willie (Ned). Sitting (L-R): Dad Joseph, Betty and Doris.
I remember Deacon Pratt as a stable, dependable and upright presence in my young life. He was one of a small team of deacons who managed the finances, facilities and sometimes fitful spiritual outpourings of the congregation at New Macedonia Baptist Church, which had been built under the leadership of Pastor L. W. White, my grandfather. Deacon Pratt was tall and dignified, even as he moved swiftly from one “shouting” member to another as the sermons came to a close on Sunday mornings.
After service, the deacons and deaconesses would spend hours in the Finance Room, finding ways to stretch the modest income available to cover the church’s expenses. Deacon Pratt remained for decades after Rev. White passed in 1965, continuing to maintain the integrity of the church’s administration through a series of ministers who could not quite fill the space in the congregation’s heart left by their beloved founding pastor.
Recently, Granddaddy Joseph rode to his hometown with his daughters. They were surprised that he still remembered so many of the back roads in Cuthbert. When they tried to insist that a destination was in one direction, he repeatedly corrected them, and sure enough, they arrived at the right place. He had a chance to visit the graves of his father and mother, and as they rode through the county, he pointed out the houses and property of many of the people who populated his early life.
“What really got me,” Norma Jean says, is when he said, ‘Oh, God. I never thought I’d be able to see this again.’ That really touched me. He told me the other day, ‘I done finally got off of work. I’m tired of working. These people want me to work for $22. They need to give that job to Couney and Ned [two of his sons, who (by the way) are already gainfully employed]. I told these nurses, they won’t even bring the boss man. And I don’t even see the $22. I ain’t never worked nowhere where they took all my money.’”
He was referring to the practice of long-term care facilities to use all of a resident’s income to cover the services of the facility. If the resident is “lucky,” like Mr. Pratt, they would be left with a tiny allowance for their personal use.
“My daddy, in his own way, is an outstanding daddy,” says Josephine. “He’s also spoiled, because he is an only child. He wants his way about everything. He pouts. If there’s something he doesn’t want to do, he’ll close his eyes and pretend to be asleep. He’s got eight children and wants to be the baby,” she shares with a laugh.
She goes on to say, “Anytime I needed him, back in the day—plumbing problems, lawn mower couldn’t get started, bicycle tire needed fixing, wanted to cook something I didn’t know how to cook, whatever—he was there. He encouraged me in how to be a woman and how to avoid problems in the street, how to listen, and not run my mouth so much. An empty wagon keeps up a lot of noise. He taught me to sit back to look and listen.
“When we went to Cuthbert, he was telling us how he wants to buy some property and build a house. A lot of people are constantly looking back on their lives. Daddy is always talking about what he’s gonna do tomorrow.”
Joseph Pratt, Granddaddy Joseph, Pop, Deacon Pratt: a real-life family hero. Thank you, Sir!
////