Marilyn C. Pratt, 89 years old, passed away on Sunday June 20, 2021 at the Maple Springs of North Logan Care Center in North Logan, Utah. Marilyn was born on June 13, 1932, to Robert Price and Mildred Eliza Thomas Clayton in Sharon, Bear Lake, Idaho, the first of three children. As a young girl, Marilyn was a student in many one-room schoolhouses in the surrounding towns around Bear Lake, including Liberty, Dingle, Ovid, and Montpelier, where her parents taught and administered. In addition, in her early years Marilyn demonstrated an extraordinary talent as a musician, which she used all her life to play the piano, organ and French horn. Throughout her life, she used these talents as a teacher, performer, and companion for both the ward and the church. She loved to read too, and wherever she was there was usually a book close by.
Marilyn graduated from Montpelier High School in Montpelier, Idaho in May 1950. Four years later, she completed her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Music, Education and English from Idaho State College in Pocatello, Idaho. After her college years, she moved to McGill, Nevada, teaching elementary music, and eventually met her future husband, Dale William Pratt of Ely, Nevada. She married Dale on January 23, 1955, and a year and a half later they had their only son, John.
Marilyn continued to work as an English teacher for the White Pine County Schools at White Pine High School in Ely, Nevada. Her talent as a teacher was felt by her students and administrators, who years later would remember the inspiring influence she made on everyone around her. She once wrote: Since my first day in first grade, I’ve loved being in a school situation. There is nothing better than being in a place where people are taught and learned.
Marilyn retired from school in 1973, and her husband and wife moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and eventually Hawthorne, Nevada, where Dale died at work in December 1989 in Logan, Utah, to live near their son John, his wife To be Marianne and her grandson. After arriving in Logan, she not only spent time with her family, but also served in various capacities in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teaching piano at home. She also accompanied the middle school choir of Mount Logan Middle School for several years. She continued to enjoy her family and friends until an illness prevented her from living alone, which prompted her to move to the Care Center in Maple Springs, where she recently died.
Marilyn is survived by her sister; Gaylen Shelley Hatch of Vernal, Utah; Son, John (Marianne) of Smithfield, Utah; Grandsons, Suzanne, Dale, John (Sarah), Rebekah, and Thomas; Great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Her husband, Dale, preceded her in death; their parents; and a sister, Mildred Tess.
A funeral service for Marilyn will be held in Ely City Cemetery on June 25 at 9:00 am in Ely, Nevada.
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