PRATHER, JUDGE CLAUDE RANDALL, passed away Friday, May 6, 2011.
Our father took great pride in all of his accomplishments. However, he was most proud, and humbled, that the voters of Jefferson County elected him to serve as a District Court Judge. He was a man of intelligence, integrity, compassion, generosity, fairness, and wit; we stand as witnesses to his qualities and wanted to share our insight.
We, his sons, learned the lessons of hard work at the feet of our persevering father. The son of a custodian, our father spent his early childhood in a home without indoor plumbing. After serving honorably in the Marines, he was the first in his family to go to college. We saw our father's dedication and endless drive as he worked full-time at General Electric while attending graduate school and earning his law degree at night. After he was admitted to the Kentucky Bar, he continued working full-time at GE, opened his private practice, and worked as an attorney and prosecutor in the courts where he ultimately presided.
Yet, in spite of all the demands on his time, family was his foremost priority. He was a loving husband of 47 years and a dutiful son who instilled in us the importance of family. He supported our mother's decision to foster three additional children. He was always there for us and took his paternal responsibilities in stride. Once, a neighbor criticized the shabby condition of our well-worn yard. He responded, "I am raising children, not grass." Our father ensured we knew our grandparents with weekly visits. After his father, Vic, died he insisted that his mom, Pearl, spend her last years with us in our home. He was a wonderful and giving grandfather who always had time for our own children.
"Claude Randall Prather was our mentor and our best friend. He is the mark by which we measure ourselves as men," the sons of Claude R. Prather.
Judge Prather is survived by his wife, Mary Faith; his sons, John (Liz), James (Tanya), Joe (Lisa), Jeff (Kim), Jason (Ramona), and Justin (Lesley); his brother Charles (Maxine) and his sister Mary Gilmore; and his 11 grandchildren, Victor, Matthew, Ali, Dalton, Mary, Stephen, Brennan, Kathryn, Sam, Rhyan, and Lacey.
His Funeral Mass will be at noon Monday, May 9, 2011 at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 7813 Shelbyville Road, with burial in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Sunday and 10-11:30 a.m. Monday at Highlands Family-Owned Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road.
Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Marine Corps Coordinating Council Semper Fi Fund or Rite to Life.

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