Wendell W. Prater, 74, of Ellensburg, died Thursday at his home following an extended illness. He was born March 11, 1913, at the family home near Ellensburg on land he has continued to farm throughout his life. He was the oldest of the three children of Cordy and Velma Ann (Weaver) Prater.
Prater was graduated from Ellensburg High School in 1930 and from Washington State College in 1936 with a degree in agricultural engineering. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg, a lay member of the First Methodist Church Conference and was a member of the board of directors for Wesley Homes in Des Moines. He was a life member of Ellensburg Kiwanis Club, serving as secretary-treasurer of that group for the past 18 years. He also was state president of the National Farm Organization and secretary of the West Side Irrigation Ditch.
He and his wife, the former JoAnn Seibel, observed their 50th wedding anniversary on Aug. 20, 1987. Survivors, including his wife JoAnn, two daughters, Mary Judith Blattner of Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada, and Patricia A. Larson of Yakima; four grandsons, Todd and Jeremy Blattner and Parke and Thor Larson; and a sister, Pauline Clark, of Reno, Nev.
Memorial services will be 3 p.m. Sunday at the First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg with Rev. Miles Jackson officiating. Memorials are suggested to the Circle of Concerns Fund for Wesley Home or to the First United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, both in care of the local church, 3rd and Ruby streets, Ellensburg. Cotton Chapel in care of arrangements. [Interment Thorp Cemetery]
Daily Record, November 20, 1987
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman
