PETER W. PRATT 1909-1989

PAULSON, PRATT, LUDEKING, BUFFAM, COOK, KELLY, JONES

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 2/18/2009 at 18:01:32

Peter W. Pratt

Peter W. Pratt, 79, a lifelong resident of Waukon died Sept. 5 at Veterans Memorial Hospital, Waukon.

He owned and operated Pete's Paint and Paper Place since 1964 and worked at Carter and Herman Rexall Drug in Waukon for many years. He and his wife owned and operated a candy store called Pete's Place from 1950 to 1974.

He was born Oct. 24, 1909 at Waukon, the son of Charles and Ella Paulson Pratt. He received his education in the Waukon schools and graduated from Waukon High School.

He married Avis V. Ludeking at the Little Brown Church, Nashua, on Oct. 24, 1931. She survives him, as do a daughter, Mrs. L. H. (Diana) Buffam of Chicago, and a son, Kenneth, of Puyallup, WA. Other survivors include a granddaughter, Kimberly Buffam of Boston. He was preceded in death by a sister, Ida Cook, and 2 brothers, Azel and Tony Pratt.

Services were conducted Friday at Martin Funeral Chapel, Waukon by Rev. William Patterson. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery. Pallbearers were Charles Cook, Lynn Morrow, William Dee, Scott Koch, Jim Evanson and Roger Martin.

Postville Herald newspaper clipping, hand dated 1989, from my mother's obituary collection.
SUBMITTER HAS NO FURTHER INFORMATION.

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Additional information about 'Pete's Place' - added 11/27/11 by Connie Ellis:

From 1950 – 1974, Peter W. Pratt and his wife, Avis (Ludeking) Pratt, owned and operated the candy store called “PETE'S PLACE”. It was located on the corner of Spring Avenue and Main Street in Waukon, Iowa under the former J.C. Penney Department Store. It was a popular place of local people for many years.

The following "Letter to the Editor" appeared in the WAUKON STANDARD, July 1987. Portions of the letter read as follows:

To the Editor:
I just read the June 30, 1987 issue of the Republican-Standard, which I always enjoy as it is like a letter from home. I wanted to add a few known facts about the “popcorn stand” or “hot dog stand” that Pete and Avis ran for years.

In 1930 my Dad, Earl R. Kelly, signed a note with Lloyd Jones in the amount of $125 to build that stand. I was the lucky one to be hired to work there for two summers, seven days a week at $3.75 a week.

Leona Jones, Lloyd's wife, worked with me and she was nice to work with. On Saturday night or Sunday morning (early) Lloyd would go to the S & D cafe and get us luscious chicken sandwiches. Saturday was a big night. Carloads of young people would come to town from the surrounding areas and they would buy hotdogs by the dozen and bags of popcorn! We would pop corn all day Saturday and store in No. 20 bags and add to the machine at night. We used pure creamery butter and of course, it was a nickel. The hot dogs were a nickel too. They bought the wieners by the ten pound boxes from Walt and Winnie Martin across the street. On Sunday, sometimes I had to find somebody from Martins to get some more wieners. We always asked if they wanted onions or mustard. My job was especially interesting when they wanted two with onions, two with mustard, two with both, some with neither.

As Mary Pladsen noted in her “Notes From Cadillac Ranch”, there was a fountain there. Leona and I kept it clean by scrubbing it, with “Dutch” Cleanser.

Sincerely,
Lorraine Kelly-Staub
Louisiana