Obituary of Shawn Wilfred Pratt

Shawn Wilfred Pratt was born May 19, 1949 in Fort St. John. The second child and oldest son of Allen and Betty Pratt, Shawn was a son, brother, husband, father, uncle and a friend to all who knew him. He had a warm, cute little giggle when he heard or saw something that tickled him. These are stories about Shawn from all of us who love him. Our Brother Shawn Shawny Boy is what we called him when we were young kids. He was our big brother, our sweet, gentle brother. We loved our Shawny Boy who, as a young boy, was always big for his age. And he always had a big heart. When he was about 7 years old and we were living in Armstrong with our Grandma and Grandpa Tourangeau's, he was watering some horses and one of the horses grabbed him by his shirt collar, knocked him down and started trampling him. His brother, Greg, was with him and ran a good mile for help. Big Mom was pregnant with Ian at the time and she somehow managed to get through the fences - both going and returning - carrying her unconscious son covered in blood. Big Dad got word while working in a logging camp and after he got to the hospital he never Shawn's side for days until he regained consciousness. Shawn wasn't much for schooling and he gladly took advantage of any opportunity that came knocking to "miss that school bus". In the years when truancy officers looked for school kids who weren't in school, such a fellow visited our house looking for Shawn one winter's day. We lived a long way from town: 31 miles of treacherous highway but that didn't deter the truancy officer and he arrived on our doorstep in search of a vagrant school kid. If the intruder would have scanned the area more carefully he would have noticed the tip of a hockey stick above the snow banks surrounding our frozen over dug out turned hockey rink. We did our best, however, to keep his attention diverted in a different direction and our Shawny boy never got caught. We had his back. Cherie remembers brother Shawn coming back from holidays with some bright hair coloured Trolls for all the youngest ones. Those trolls were the hot item at the time and the kids felt so special because their big brother always thought of something to put a smile on their face and love in their hearts. Shawn's first car was a 1954 Austin that Lovanna named the Worry Wart. The back trunk pulled down, so all the kids could ride in the trunk. All the kids got to drive that car. We would push it to get it going, hop on and ride. Every kid in the neighbourhood would come along for the ride. There were kids in the trunk, sticking out the windows, and it was a fancy English car with a manual tin sun roof, which was a favourite place to ride. You could stick three kids in the sun roof alone. Shawn worked for Daryl Johnson and got the car as payment for his work. That was the highlight of our life - getting the Worry Wart going. Stormy was Shawn's first horse. He bought him for $65 from Bruce Tinkler when he was about 16 years old. The horse was two years old and never properly broke. Stormy was a terrible horse. All the kids used to ride him bare back just holding onto his mane. Stormy tried hard to knock off everyone who rode him. Stormy lived until he was 28 years old. Shawn had lots of different horses over the years. I remember a time when Dayton and I were small. We were visiting Shawn with Dad out in the back forty at the Big House. Uncle Shawn asked us if we wanted a ride. Dayton was much braver than me. He got up on the top of that big horse and Uncle Shawn led him around the corral. Dad and Shawn got to talking and weren't paying attention. Didn't take long before Dayton slid off the back of that big horse right into the mud and the manure. Needless to say, I didn't go for a ride on the horse after that. So very generous, and it's not like he had a big bank account, but boy oh boy, if anyone needed money, Shawn was there helping out, often giving money he couldn't afford. And his generous nature started as a young man. His first job was working on the PGE Railroad, and he always had money for mom and dad to help with their bills. He would come home from work, and hand his cheque to Big Mom. And when he went to work, Big Mom would give him money for smokes. Shawn was a truck driver for much of his life. He was so conscientious about maintenance and was often found greasing his truck. His vehicles, whether they were big trucks, or pickups, were well cared for and lasted a long time. Our Dad Jamie remembers a story that his Dad liked to tell. Tod and Dad were hauling hay to the farm. Tod was in the first truck - a new truck that he had just bought. He hooked onto the trailer with the big load of hay. Dad just had two bales loaded on the old truck, and was following along behind up the hill. They rounded the big bend, and Tod noticed his truck gaining speed and then falling back. He kept speeding up and falling back. Thinking that his brand new transmission was giving up the ghost because of the big load of hay. When they arrived at the farm and got the hay unloaded, Dad asked him how his new truck was doing. Tod told him he was worried there was something wrong with the transmission. Dad couldn't take it anymore, and let Tod know his transmission was fine. He had been boosting him up the hill with the old truck. He'd been running into the bales with the bumper of the old Chevy. Life in Taylor Shawn and Cheryl got married on October 8, 1976 Whenever his boys, Jamie and Terry, were away, they were always on his mind until they returned safe and sound. He prayed for his family every night. Shawn liked to tell the story about the time he saved Doug Dickson on the side of the highway. Doug was driving his motorcycle, and he was drinking - of course. And somehow he got out on the boulevard where Shawn could see him. He was pretty drunk and his bike kept falling over. He kept trying to pick it up and just couldn't get it sorted out. Shawn watched him for a little while until he figured that was enough. So out he goes, and he picks Doug up by the scuff of the pants and picks up the bike and says, "Dickson, don't you think you've had enough riding for one day." Together they pushed the bike back to Shawn and Cheryl's house and parked it. Afterwards Shawn took Dougie to the bar. Shawn's rebellious night at the Taylor Restaurant. Lovanna tells a story about being at the Taylor Hotel having a Coke. Two police officers came in for coffee. Shawn walked over to the juke box and started playing the song, "I Fought the Law and the Law Won". Shawn called the Pratt family girls "Sis". He started the tradition with his sisters, and carried it on to the nieces. It is a term of endearment that we now often hear his brothers using with their own nieces and daughters. And so the tradition continues. Shawn loved babies, and they loved him. Whenever the family got together, you would always find Shawn with a baby on his knee.