What's Your Story ?
My bio has been a little lacking in details, so thought I would update it before the reunion takes place.
I was married to Michael Pratt in 1963 at the tender age of 19, which wasn’t so unusual then, but seems insanely young now! I had finished two years toward a major in English Literature and a minor in Art., attending both Wayne State College and Morningside. Mike and I met in 1962 when he rented an apartment at the building my grandmother managed at 905 Douglas. (That beautiful old redstone building – formerly a grand private home – is now gone.) He had just graduated from Brown Institute of Broadcasting in Minneapolis, and his first job was as a news and weather man at KTIV Channel 4. We were married in 1963 at Morningside Presbyterian Church, and honeymooned in exotic Omaha NE, on the way to our first home in Nebraska City, where Mike was an announcer at KNCY Radio.
Mike decided to leave the world of broadcasting, and took a job with Northwestern Bell – a job that took us from Nebraska City to Sioux City, to Council Bluffs to Des Moines, and then to Dubuque, where we remained for 40 years. Daniel was born in Sioux City in 1964 and Elizabeth was born in 1968 in Des Moines.
When Dan and Beth reached school age I finally joined the work force. I worked as an interior designer at a large carpet/furniture store, and in 1976 I opened my own gift and decorating accessories shop in Dubuque called Homestead. Besides kitchenware, basketry, tabletop items, and restored antique furniture, I also carried Amana products. Their fresh cinnamon bread was delivered twice a week, and their jams and jellies were popular purchases. The shop flourished for 5 years, then was a casualty of Dubuque’s economic downturn in 1981, so I closed it and went to work at CyCare Systems, Inc. – a healthcare software company created by, coincidentally, a Sioux City native, Jim Houtz.
After 5 years of trying to enjoy the corporate environment (never quite accomplished it) I took a job in the computer department of the public library, then went back to interior design at a friend’s shop, then did a short stint as an attorney’s assistant, then was office manager/recruiter for a Management Recruiter’s franchise that Mike and I ran for a few years.
In 1991 my Mother gave me an incomparable gift. I had always wanted to return to school and finish my degree, but this time with art as my major. My mother offered me two years of nothing but school – no part time job, no other distractions. One of our local schools, Clarke University, accepted all my ancient grades from the 60s, and I attended Clarke for two years, with nothing to do but eat, sleep, and create art. It was heaven. At first I was intimidated a little by all the talented young students and wondered if I, as the older, “non-traditional” student would feel like an outsider. I soon learned that those students were just like most of us at that age – more concerned with dating and other extracurricular activities than with studying. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with an emphasis on studio art. I surprised myself by graduating summa cum laude, and made a vow to myself at that time that I would always somehow include art in my life.
One of the things that I’d always done was make cards for family and friends --- not using the scrapbooking materials that are so popular now, but making one of a kind collages or original paintings. I was taking commissions to design baby announcements, birthday and anniversary cards, etc. and people were asking where they could buy them. I became acquainted with another artist who made and sold her cards with the help of a company that specialized in handmade original cards, billing them as framable art. I sent samples to them, was asked to join them, and began producing cards in much larger numbers. With the help of their New York sales rep, my cards appeared at Marshall Fields (now Macy’s), Barney’s New York, and Neiman Marcus. The orders from N.M. came in 1,000 at a time! When that happened I recruited every friend I knew to help cut and fold cardstock, assembly-line the designs, insert them in cellophane sleeves, add a bio sheet, seal the sleeve, and pack them for mailing. Mike was in charge of weighing boxes and making the post office runs. It was lots of fun to drop the names of those department store accounts in casual conversation!
Fun and exciting as that was --- very labor intensive but not very profitable --- I eventually went back to interior design for the last 7 years of my working career. Mike and I retired two years ago and moved to St. Paul. Our son Dan and our two grandchildren, Mason and Thea, live ten minutes away so they were a major reason for our move. The other reason was that after 40 years in one city, we were really craving a change in our lives. It has been great to learn a new city, survive the Minnesota winters (not all that different from Iowa’s), and make new friends. It’s been an extra bonus having a small group of EHS grads here to meet for lunch once in awhile. (And….I’m making cards again. I have two accounts so far and am working on another.)
My best to you all…..looking forward to seeing you at the reunion!
