Massena: Irene H. Pratt, age 94, passed away peacefully during a beautiful sunrise on Good Friday at the Canton-Potsdam Hospital. Amazing to all who gave her care and comfort, her good Hungarian blood kept her going and she passed when she was ready. In her passing, Irene was still exhausted from all the ironing she thought she still had to do for her 7 kids and Emmett. She will also be fondly remembered for her wonderful Beef Pot pies that greeted us when we came to visit.
Irene was born in Massena on May 4th 1926 to parents Joseph and Cathrine (Bregg) Szaybel. After high school, she moved to Washington DC to work for the Veterans Affairs Administration during WW II. She came back to Massena and married Emmett Pratt at St. Maryâs Church in November 1948. They lived and raised seven kids in Massena. She is survived by children Janice Crowe, Robert (Julie) Pratt, Nancy (Bill) Griffes and Michael and Eva Pratt, 10 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was predeceased by her husband Emmett and in-laws Titus and Eva, and brotherâs in-law Ronald and Thomas Pratt. Her parents and brothers, John, Joe and Steve and sisterâs Yolanda and Ethel, also daughter Mary Cathrine and son Emmett Thomas and his infant son Adam and a son in-law Jamie Crowe. Irene was in the Massena Home Bureau, a life member of the VFW Auxiliary, she enjoyed lunches with the Red Fox Ladies, as well as various senior citizen bus trips, she enjoyed playing cards at the VFW and gardening. She and her late husband enjoyed going to Notre Dame Football games, golf trips and dinners with many friends. One memorable trip was when they traveled to Europe and she got to visit her brotherâs Steveâs grave at the American Cemetery in Margraten, Holland. A memorial Mass and burial will take place this summer at the convenience of the family where there will be a joint memorial with her brother in-law Thomas Pratt who passed away in December.