Pratt was a community and newspaper builder

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Flags in Tillsonburg flew at half-mast this week to recognize the passing of Bill Pratt.

A former Citizen of the Year, editor and co-owner of The Tillsonburg News, Pratt was well known for his work in the community. He was a recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Confederation Medal, the Canada/Holland Medal and a Paul Harris Fellow.

Pratt’s wide-ranging contributions can be seen in so many places in the community today. The many local institutions he contributed to include: Tillsonburg Multi-Service Centre, the second ice pad, the kidney dialysis unit in Tillsonburg, Theatre Tillsonburg, the Tillsonburg Campus of Fanshawe College, the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce, the Tillsonburg Air Show, the Tillsonburg Community Centre, the addition to the Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital, and the Tillsonburg Seniors’ Centre. He was president of Tillsonburg Fair Board, and a volunteer with the local branch of the Canadian Cancer Society for over 60 years. Bill and his wife Marion joined the Tillsonburg Curling Club in the early 1960’s. He served on the board and continued actively curling until January of this year.

“He was just a super, super person,” said former Mayor John Armstrong. “The term gentleman applied to him to the n-th degree. He was so involved in the community and did everything with taste and finesse.”

Pratt’s work with Annandale National Historic Site and Museum was honoured with the changing exhibit gallery being named in his honour.

Joan Weston, a volunteer at Annandale National Historic Site, said Pratt was involved with the historical society for 50 years. He was one of the five people who put down $1,000 each to save Annandale House from demolition, and has continued to volunteer.

“He still came and brought them (staff) coffee and donuts at least once per week, and visited with them,” she said.

Former Mayor and Tillsonburg News and Independent publisher Cam McKnight provided insight into Pratt’s time in the industry. His grandfather HF Johnston was the owner-publisher of the Tillsonburg News when Pratt started working there full-time in 1950.

“With a degree in journalism from Western, I’m sure he instantly raised the editorial level at the News. Barely two years later he became the local editor,” McKnight recounted.

His father JCR MCKnight became friends with Pratt and the two became partners and purchased the News in the 1960s. The News went to three times a week under their management and the business grew to seven weeklies as Otter Publishing.

Pratt also became the president of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and Canadian Community Newspaper Association.

“One of the duties he cherished, and detested, was writing the lead editorial for the Tillsonburg editions. Unfailingly, as the deadline approached Bill — with a cigar burning in his office ashtray — would be pounding on his old typewriter searching for the words to encourage or admonish Tillsonburg residents and municipal leaders,” he said. “He would put the News’s editorial sway, and it was considerable in those days, either behind or against local affairs and explain his reasoning for it.”

Expanding on Pratt’s influence, McKnight said, “Bill had the unique ability of being able to make his point without making an enemy. That trait followed him beyond just the newspaper arena and allowed him to influence many major projects in this town.”

Amongst the journalists who Pratt influenced was Post columnist Paul Knowles, who gave him his first job as a journalist.

“I would not have had a 50-plus year career as a writer without him,” he said. “He taught me to work hard, write a lot, re-write even more. Even though I was a rookie, he let me write a personal column, a style that is with me to this day in my travel pieces. He loved his community, from that day to the day he died, and part of our job at the newspaper was to support all the things Bill cared about, including the Tillsonburg Fair. I think it is fair to say I owe much of my enjoyment in a life of writing to Bill Pratt. A great man.”

There is a saying amongst journalists that those who are devoted to newspapers have “ink running through their veins.” Although Pratt hasn’t worked full time as a newspaper editor in decades, he couldn’t stay away. When the Post launched its first edition, Pratt was on hand to be one of the first to get his hands on a paper that brought community news back to Tillsonburg. And, he contributed to it, sending an occasional photo and ensuring I was up to date on community happenings.

If ink ran through his veins, so too did helping the community.