1932 – 2003

LEWISTON – Janet L.(Tinkham) Pratt, 71, a long-time resident of Greene, Leeds and Turner, died Thursday, Dec. 18, at Marshwood Health Care from complications of diabetes.

She was born in Brockton, Mass., on July 23, 1932, the elder daughter of Harry Garfield Jr. and Evelyn H. Conant Tinkham. She attended the Brockton schools and was proud of having received her GED in 1979 at Leavitt Area High School.

On Feb. 9, 1951, she married Donald O. Pratt of Auburn, in Auburn. After living in St. Petersburg, Fla., for three years, they moved to Auburn and later to Sawyer Farm in Greene. In 1962, the family purchased a dairy farm in Leeds, where she lived until 1987 following Donald’s death in 1986.

Over the years she had been active in the Grange, Leeds Community Church, Order of Eastern Star and Amaranth. In 1989, she sustained a serious injury and was unable to continue driving the school bus for SAD 52, a job she had loved for over 15 years.

Throughout her lengthy recovery she was always optimistic that she could reach sufficient abilities to allow her to live in her own apartment. She achieved this with much patience and the support of family, her doctors, friends and force of her own will. She was able to live at Turner Square for nearly 14 years, making friends and building a satisfying life.

She leaves her children, Dona-Lee Ferguson and her husband Scott of Clinton, N.Y., Donald W. of Winslow, Joyce Pratt of Leeds, Robert of Auburn and David and his wife Heidi of Leeds; and was devoted to her nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren; a sister, Barbara Spragg of Gulfport, Fla.; an aunt, Catherine W. Tinkham of St. Petersburg, Fla.; cousins, Elizabeth Culver of Sandwich, Mass., and Victoria Hammond of Brockton, Mass.; many, many nieces and nephews; she is also sadly missed by her devoted friends, George and Roberta Krohne and their sons, Dan and Kirk who were instrumental in her recovery and became important members of her family and Chet and Nancy Harris who looked out for her especially in the winter.

Many people have helped her over the years and her life would have been much less full without them. Her family would like to express particular gratitude to Dr. Max Barus and the staff at DFD Russell Medical Center, the nurses and aides from Gentiva Health Services, the staff of Hospice of Androscoggin County and the staff at Marshwood.


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