Obituary: Elizabeth S. Pratt

March 12, 1928 – March 17, 2023

Betsy Pratt. Courtesy photo

Elizabeth Stratton Pratt, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and originally from Greenwich, Connecticut, passed away peacefully surrounded by family. Betsy, as she was known to all, was an avid sportsman, naturalist, and mother, who was committed to preserving and protecting skiing at Mad River Glen for future generations.

Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, Betsy attended Rosemary Hall before graduating from Vassar College in 1950 with a degree in Economics.

Betsy learned to play golf as a student at Vassar, starting her love affair with the game that lasted the rest of her life. She joined the Round Hill Club in 1949 and competed on its women’s golf team for close to 50 years. She also loved playing golf in Vermont and, in later years, on the coast of North Carolina. 

She moved to New York City after graduation. An early officer at the Ford Foundation, she worked on budgeting and finance for “Omnibus,” a popular show in the early days of television starring Alistair Cooke. In 1953, Betsy met her future husband, Truxton B. Pratt Jr. (“Trux”), a future First Vice President at Bankers Trust. Betsy, Trux, and their family of four children embraced an active lifestyle of golf, snow skiing, and soaring. Their second home, “Prattfall,” in the Mad River Valley of Vermont, was a de facto bunk house where they hosted friends and family throughout winters and summers.

Widowed in 1975, Betsy started the next chapter of her life. Trux and some friends had recently purchased the Mad River Glen ski area in Fayston, from Roland Palmedo. Betsy consolidated ownership and changed careers from housewife to ski area executive.

Betsy Pratt. Courtesy photo

As chairman of Mad River Glen throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and early 1990s, Betsy was committed to preserving skiing in its natural form. Seen as a maverick, she worked with mountain manager Ken Quackenbush to challenge skiers with new trails and experiences without changing the character of the mountain. She would often say, “The mountain itself provides the challenge. We want to keep it so that in 300 years skiers will find the same challenges as today.” 

Betsy’s strategy to preserve the mountain included relying primarily on natural snow. During years without much snowfall, the mountain’s motto and iconic bumper sticker, “Ski It If You Can,” became a challenge, an exhortation, and, to some, a prayer. She branded Mad River Glen “The Skier’s Mountain,” reinforcing its mission to push skiers and put smiles on their faces after every run. Betsy embraced telemark skiing and snowboarding when they gained popularity in the early and mid-1980s. She denied snowboards on the mountain’s longest lift, the single chair, because of difficulties with loading/unloading. Over time she eliminated snowboards from the ski area altogether because of the way snowboards scraped the snow. This position was controversial, but Betsy never shied away from controversy.

In 1995, Betsy championed, organized, and helped finance the creation of the first community-owned ski area, the Mad River Glen Cooperative. As mountain owner, Betsy had repeatedly talked about how the mountain and ski area needed to belong to the skiers so that the stewardship of the mountain would not fall victim to one person’s whims. Today Mad River Glen is the only skier-owned cooperative in the United States. Betsy’s contributions there were recognized with a plaque in 2019. She was inducted into the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2022. 

At Mad River Glen in the single chair, Betsy Pratt, 1928-2023. Photo courtesy Mad River Glen

Betsy was predeceased by her parents (John and June Stratton), brother (Walter Love Stratton), sister (Sally Stratton Hamlin), and her husband (Truxton B. Pratt, Jr.). She is survived by her children Polly Pratt, Amanda Siegel (Miles), Elizabeth Redinbo (Matt), Truxton Pratt (Elizabeth), and eight grandchildren, Jonah, Ruth, and Isaac Siegel, Andrew and Sam Redinbo, and Haley, Alexander, and William Pratt. A celebration of life will be held at Mad River Glen this summer.