Remembering Alex Pretti

GREEN BAY – In the wake of Alex Pretti being shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, members of the Green Bay Area Public Schools community honored the Preble High School alum with flowers, signs and other tributes placed at Preble High School and with memories shared at the GBAPS Board of Education’s Jan. 26 meeting.

“The one thing that really stood out to me about Alex was that he was the personification of kindness,” said Carol Miller, a retired Preble High School teacher. “Sometimes, when you have a senior, you might get a senior who likes to push around the underclassmen, maybe tease them or taunt them… That was not Alex. He went out of his way to welcome the freshman and the sophomores to the theater program, to make them feel like their contributions to the productions were very important, and I think that was something that he probably portrayed in his adult life — being full of kindness and care for the veterans that he nursed… He led and he mentored with care and compassion and he was just a very good person. We will also always value his leadership and spread some of the kindness that he gave to others. That’s the ripple effect, and I think that’s where his legacy therein lies.”

Pretti was living in Minneapolis where he worked as an intensive care nurse for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I’d just like us to endeavor to be the beacon of kindness that is revolutionary,” said Karie Green, assistant director of the Green Bay Boy Choir, which Pretti was a part of. “To honor such a  good man and to let the world know that Alex Pretti walked among us, sang among us, shared life among us, and we will continue to honor him all the days of our lives.”

“Above all, Alex was innately helpful,” said Susan Carlson in a statement read by Green. Carlson taught Pretti in sixth through eighth grade. “He had a knack for seeing what someone needed and helped, and he’d just jump in to provide that help without ever even being asked… I’m not at all surprised by the man Alex became. At his core, Alex was a helper. I’m not at all surprised that he became a nurse. I’m not at all surprised that he worked with veterans. I’m not one bit surprised that his final act on earth was to help a woman who had been viciously thrown to the ground, and that his last words were, ‘Are you okay?’ because all of that is completely in line with who Alex was.”

“As a music teacher, it is a great privilege to work with students for multiple years. We get to know these young people in their most formative years…” said Susan McAllister, a retired Preble teacher. “We see them in their academic choir during the day, rehearsals after school, rehearsals in the evening. We travel with them on weekends, we go away for trips. We really get to know these kids. And as any teacher knows, you love your students, and once they’re your kid, they’re always your kid. It’s 19 years later that I’m saying this about Alex. My heart is broken over Alex’s death. And of course, like everyone else, I am deeply angry, but I am also so proud of the young man I knew, who then went to spend his adult life in a caring profession and gave the ultimate sacrifice in the act of helping others.”

“We as a district, should be incredibly proud of this young man and who we as a community and as a school district helped to raise,” said Travis VandenHeuvel, one of Pretti’s childhood friends and fellow Green Bay Boy Choir member. “Up until the time he died, he was a helper. He was kindness incarnate.”