Act of kindness ties man to Pratt

Thirty-three years ago Rich Hill made a choice that brought him to Pratt. A chance occurrence that could have ended badly left him, instead, with warm feelings for the community and in particular, for an elderly couple he remembers as Ray and Ida.

His father offered him the choice of a bicycle or paying to obtain a glider pilot license as a high school graduation present. Hill chose the bike, thinking it offered a better adventure.

He spent some time cycling through his native New England, then set out on a cross-country trip. When he got to Colorado, he doubled back, as it was too late in the year to cross the Rockies. On a warm October day, he stopped for food, and a short while later began feeling ill. Just outside of Pratt, feeling woozy, feverish and shivering in spite of the warm day, he pulled off the road and crawled into his sleeping bag. His next memory is of being in Ray and Ida’s car on the way to a medical clinic for treatment of what he believes was food poisoning.

“I remember how incredibly kind and gracious they were,” Hill said this week while visiting his sister Ande. “They took me home, fed me and let me sleep in their home.”

He wrote to and received letters from Pratt’s Good Samaritans for several years.

By coincidence, about five years ago Ande, a veterinarian in New Mexico, began a romance with a guy who happened to live in Pratt. She eventually sold her practice, moved to Pratt and married Patrick Hall, Pratt Community College volleyball coach.

“I know Pratt,” he told her, remembering not only Ray and Ida, but the town’s hot and cold water towers.

The kindness he experienced on his solo trip as an 18-year-old was not unique to Pratt.

He set out with no plan other than to ride until he got tired, then find a campground or knock on some farmer’s door and ask to pitch his tent in a field. Most of the time, he was invited to come in, have a meal and sleep in the house.

“It was kind of an encouraging thing for me to experience the country and the people in it,” Hill said.

Asked if an 18-year-old would have a similar experience today, he said, “my sense is that they would.”

He believes the world is not that much different today — there were plenty of scary things going on in 1977 and he did encounter some of them on his trip — but media and instant communication make people more aware of events.

Hill has bicycled extensively and raced since his 20s. He is ranked in the top 10 percent of 50-54-year-olds by USA Triathlon and last week posted his fastest-ever time for the bicycling portion of a triathlon. He is currently training for an Iron Man Triathlon in Madison, Wis., in September, where he will swim 2.5 miles, bicycle 112 miles and run 26 miles. The top five finishers in each age class will qualify for the Hawaii Iron Man.

Although he thinks he has a good chance of qualifying, it will be okay if he doesn’t.

“I always wanted to do one, but I don’t want to make it a lifetime commitment,” he said, explaining that training requires 20 to 30 hours a week. 

Hill lives in Geneva, Ill., and is a leadership development coach for chief executive officers of emerging companies. Clients range from first-level start-ups to some of the largest privately owned companies in the country.

He and wife Lynn and children Ezra, 8, and Nora, 6, visited in Pratt as part of a family vacation. The children spent some quality time with Aunt Ande while their parents left for a few rare days alone.