This biographical sketch is adapapted fom the "News
of the Church: Elder Carl B. Pratt of the Seventy" in the Ensign,
May 1997 on the occasion of Elder Pratt's call to the First Quorum of the
Seventy.
Elder Carl B. Pratt of the First Quorum of the Seventy
is still pleased that at age 46 he climbed the nearly 20,000-foot-high
Mount Cotopaxi near Quito, Ecuador. But he is even happier that as a missionary
in Argentina he gained a testimony of the gospel.
“A testimony is the Spirit working on you,” Elder
Pratt says. “I can remember very distinctly that one day while I was studying
the Book of Mormon I felt the Spirit working on me. I knew that what I
was studying was true, and I have never doubted it since.”
A great-great-grandson of Elder Parley P. Pratt of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Carl B. Pratt was born in Monterrey,
Mexico, on 30 October 1941, son of Barton and Lavern Whetten Pratt. From
1943 to 1947, he lived in Colonia
Dublán, Mexico, where his ancestors had lived for generations.
After 1947, Arizona became his home. He received a bachelor’s degree from
the University of Arizona and a law degree from Arizona State University.
In 1969, he married Karen Ann Yeoman in the Arizona Temple; he had baptized
her in 1968.
An attorney for the Salt Lake City-based law firm
of Kirton & McConkie, Elder Pratt has lived and worked for 19 years
in South America—in Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima,
Peru; and Quito, Ecuador. He currently provides legal counsel for the Church’s
South America North Area.
In addition to raising eight children, currently
ages 10 to 25, the Pratts have provided foster care for a number of abandoned
South American children, caring for the malnutritioned youngsters until
they are healthy.
“I have learned that the gospel gives us hope, so
that we don’t despair,” says Sister Pratt.
Between 1988 and 1991, Elder Pratt served as president
of the Spain Seville Mission. His other Church callings have included priests
quorum adviser, counselor in a stake presidency, Regional Representative,
and, most recently, Area Authority and member of the South American North
Area Presidency. Of Church service, he says, “Living the gospel simplifies
our lives. If we serve with love, our callings bring us joy.”
Elder Pratt served in the First Quorum of the Seventy until
October 2011, when he was released and granted Emeritus Status.
