Benton County judge following a higher calling

At 62 and on the brink of retirement, Judge Eugene F. Pratt says it is time to step outside of his secure existence and do whatever God wants.

"We are put on this Earth for a purpose, and it should be more than just to see how much you can get," said the Benton County District Court's senior judge. "I have been blessed incredibly, and now I can spend the rest of my life helping other people to be blessed."

Pratt was appointed to the bench in November 1979 and is in the top seven of the state's longest-serving District Court judges.

His departure from the job, which originally wasn't even in his career plans, becomes official March 31.

Then, Pratt and his wife of 42 years, Linda, will have five months to pack up their belongings, sell their Kennewick home and move to Mechanicsburg, Pa. The couple will attend the Global School of Supernatural Ministry for eight months as they prepare to "spread the love of Jesus" in the United States and Third World countries and pray with people for emotional and physical healing.

"We always believed it was the door the Lord opened for me," Pratt said of his decision as a young lawyer to apply for the District Court bench. "Now we feel like he is telling us to go, so we're leaving."

It won't be the first time the couple have set out on a new adventure, though Pratt admits this next step comes with "a little bit of trepidation" and excitement because he has been so stable for 30 years.

Raised a Catholic, Pratt said he accepted the Lord and was born again in 1979 after he was healed from terminal cancer.

"What I'm going to be doing is kind of flying by the seat of my pants ...," he said. "I don't know exactly what is coming. I am not by nature an adventurer. But I feel if the Lord is calling, something needs to be done."

Linda is a retired secretary. Though the couple will be moving across the country, their home base will still be the Northwest.

Their two daughters live in the Tri-Cities: Alison Moore is a Benton County sheriff's deputy and Ashley Montelongo is a drafter with her own company. Son Kelley Pratt is an emergency room doctor in Vancouver.

They have six grandkids, ranging in age from 31/2 to 20.

Both raised in the small Eastern Oregon town of Adrian, the couple met in the first grade but didn't start dating until their senior year of high school. They married at age 19 while he was home on Christmas break from the Army.

After leaving the military in 1969, Pratt spent three years at the University of Oregon earning a bachelor's degree in political science before moving to the University of Idaho for law school. He graduated in 1974 and found there were few job openings in the Boise Valley.

So the Pratts opened a map, drew a big circle around Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington and decided home would be wherever their finger landed. Their next destination: The Tri-Cities.

Pratt and his law school classmate, William Platts, visited and found that with the area's economic vitality, there was plenty of work.

Pratt and Platts, who met because they were always seated next to each other, would later sit together on the Benton County District Court bench.

Pratt had only been practicing law for 41/2 years -- nine months of it as a deputy prosecutor -- when his friend told him about an open judgeship. He tossed his name in the ring, received the most votes in a Benton-Franklin Bar Association poll and was selected by the Benton County Commission.

He was 32 at the time and "a little wet behind the ears," and became one of the youngest sitting judges in Washington. District Court judges preside over everything from traffic infractions and criminal cases to small claims actions.

"I had never even thought about being a judge. It had never even crossed my mind before that day," he said.

Pratt beat out his friend for the job, but in 1984 he hired Platts as a court commissioner. Now Platts, like his old schoolmate, is retiring April 30 from District Court.

"We came together and we leave together," Pratt joked.

In his more than 29 years as a judge, Pratt said he never once had an opponent at election time.

District Court provides good working conditions, hours, pay and benefits, he said. He started with a $30,000 annual salary and now makes $141,000.

"I couldn't have dreamed of a better job," said Pratt. "You couldn't ask for more. You get to be the boss."

In addition to being thick-skinned, Pratt said it's important for all judges to be humble, fair and steady with their legal decisions.

"I would remember that I'm just a farm kid, the son of a farmer, and I'm the same as the person in front of me," he said. "It's not what I think, it's what the law requires."

His four-year term is up at the end of 2010. A new judge will be appointed by the Benton County commissioners and face voters next fall.