Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - February 10, 1999
Deceased Name: James Brent Prunty
PRUNTY James Brent Prunty, age 70, Saturday, February 6, 1999. Preceded in death by mother Anna Prorock Stortz, step-father C. Russell Stortz and brother Francis Delmar Prunty. Survived by wife, Ruth; sister, Alice (Rick) Laipply; sister-in-law, Vicki Prunty; nieces and nephews. Funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 1999 at RUTHERFORD FUNERAL HOME, 2383 N. High St., Columbus, where friends may call from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Pastor William L. Snider officiating. Interment will be later at Union Cemetery.
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH)
Date: February 10, 1999
Edition: Home Final
Page: 09B
Record Number: 9902100175
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
[Her first husband was James Alden Prunty, he died in 1970 in IL. Francis "Frank" Delmar Prunty was his brother, not spouse.]
Second obit:
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Tuesday, February 9, 1999
Deceased Name: Jim Prunty: WIFE TRIED IN VAIN TO GET HELP FOR TROUBLED SPOUSE
A hacksaw and a helping hand are harder to find in Clintonville after the death of "Mr. Fix-it."
Jim Prunty shot himself Saturday in the Como Avenue basement where he saved balls of yarn, old magazines, used equipment and ceiling-high piles of other items he couldn't part with.
"It's something that didn't have to happen," his wife, Ruth, said.
Mr. Prunty, 70, a retired junk dealer and admitted pack rat, had been depressed, she said, about being ordered by the city Health Department to clean the clutter from his ranch house.
An order had been filed by the city Dec. 31, saying the couple needed to correct health-code violations within a few days or vacate the premises until problems were fixed.
Officials observed piles of debris and clutter throughout the house that hampered the ability to get in and out of rooms.
City health officials yesterday said the couple had made progress and that the order to vacate had been lifted, but Mrs. Prunty said it still was too much pressure for her husband.
The Health Department first took the couple to the environmental division of Franklin County Municipal Court in 1995 over debris on the front porch and surrounding the house. The Pruntys cleaned it up.
Then health officials received an anonymous complaint about garbage and the property's appearance in January 1998. An inspector said the inside of the house also was a hazard.
Inspectors said that after several months during which Prunty was not cooperative, they had no choice but to seek the order against him. In the meantime, they attempted to line up several agencies to assist the couple with the cleanup, officials said.
The house showed progress and officials told the Pruntys through their attorney that they wouldn't have to leave the house as long as progress continued, city officials said.
But that wasn't clear to the Pruntys, who thought they were going to be thrown out of their home, Mrs. Prunty said. Her husband became distraught, she said.
"That is a heck of a thing to force on someone his age," she said. "We lived here 30 years. How can we throw all that stuff out?"
The couple hadn't heard any complaints from neighbors, she said, and they never had roaches or rodent troubles.
"I'm not a good housekeeper, I grant you that," she said.
Mr. Prunty also was upset about the death of his brother, Frank, in October. They were raised in an orphanage and were very close, Mrs. Prunty said.
For days, he told her he was going to kill himself.
"I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to get him help," said Mrs. Prunty, who is retired from the Veterans Affairs mental-hygiene clinic. "He wouldn't listen."
About 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Mrs. Prunty said her husband asked her to make a phone call to a friend. Then he walked downstairs and shot himself in the head.
Mrs. Prunty, 77, recalls her husband as a good man who looked out for others, but ultimately couldn't resolve his own problems.
Not long after meeting in a jitterbug class, the couple married in 1952. She was from the North Side; he from Franklinton. Mr. Prunty served in the Navy in 1946 and '47, she said.
"He said he had a girl in every port," Mrs. Prunty said. "Then he would pull up his leg and show off his tattoo of a Hawaiian girl."
He operated a used tool and hardware store in the Short North until it was destroyed by fire in 1984.
"He moved some of that stuff into the house," she said.
Most neighbors overlooked the clutter as a harmless eccentricity, said Chuck Dill of Como Avenue.
"He would make a pile on the porch and get rid of it. But he never met a man he wouldn't help," Dill said. "He would give the shirt off his back for anyone."
Everyone in the community called him "Mr. Fix-it."
Several residents along the quiet, dead-end street had Mr. Fix-it anecdotes. He helped one family install a garage light. He watched homes for vacationing neighbors and once stopped a burglar from taking a lawn mower from a garage.
"We really cared for him a lot. He was a wonderful guy. We're really going to miss him," neighbor Katie Darnall said.
Doral Chenoweth III.
Ruth Prunty and her husband, Jim, were ordered by city health officials to clean their property or vacate it until the problem was fixed. Jim Prunty killed himself Saturday.
Jim Prunty Edition: Home Final
Page: 01B
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
Deceased Name: James Brent Prunty
PRUNTY James Brent Prunty, age 70, Saturday, February 6, 1999. Preceded in death by mother Anna Prorock Stortz, step-father C. Russell Stortz and brother Francis Delmar Prunty. Survived by wife, Ruth; sister, Alice (Rick) Laipply; sister-in-law, Vicki Prunty; nieces and nephews. Funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 1999 at RUTHERFORD FUNERAL HOME, 2383 N. High St., Columbus, where friends may call from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Pastor William L. Snider officiating. Interment will be later at Union Cemetery.
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH)
Date: February 10, 1999
Edition: Home Final
Page: 09B
Record Number: 9902100175
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
[Her first husband was James Alden Prunty, he died in 1970 in IL. Francis "Frank" Delmar Prunty was his brother, not spouse.]
Second obit:
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Tuesday, February 9, 1999
Deceased Name: Jim Prunty: WIFE TRIED IN VAIN TO GET HELP FOR TROUBLED SPOUSE
A hacksaw and a helping hand are harder to find in Clintonville after the death of "Mr. Fix-it."
Jim Prunty shot himself Saturday in the Como Avenue basement where he saved balls of yarn, old magazines, used equipment and ceiling-high piles of other items he couldn't part with.
"It's something that didn't have to happen," his wife, Ruth, said.
Mr. Prunty, 70, a retired junk dealer and admitted pack rat, had been depressed, she said, about being ordered by the city Health Department to clean the clutter from his ranch house.
An order had been filed by the city Dec. 31, saying the couple needed to correct health-code violations within a few days or vacate the premises until problems were fixed.
Officials observed piles of debris and clutter throughout the house that hampered the ability to get in and out of rooms.
City health officials yesterday said the couple had made progress and that the order to vacate had been lifted, but Mrs. Prunty said it still was too much pressure for her husband.
The Health Department first took the couple to the environmental division of Franklin County Municipal Court in 1995 over debris on the front porch and surrounding the house. The Pruntys cleaned it up.
Then health officials received an anonymous complaint about garbage and the property's appearance in January 1998. An inspector said the inside of the house also was a hazard.
Inspectors said that after several months during which Prunty was not cooperative, they had no choice but to seek the order against him. In the meantime, they attempted to line up several agencies to assist the couple with the cleanup, officials said.
The house showed progress and officials told the Pruntys through their attorney that they wouldn't have to leave the house as long as progress continued, city officials said.
But that wasn't clear to the Pruntys, who thought they were going to be thrown out of their home, Mrs. Prunty said. Her husband became distraught, she said.
"That is a heck of a thing to force on someone his age," she said. "We lived here 30 years. How can we throw all that stuff out?"
The couple hadn't heard any complaints from neighbors, she said, and they never had roaches or rodent troubles.
"I'm not a good housekeeper, I grant you that," she said.
Mr. Prunty also was upset about the death of his brother, Frank, in October. They were raised in an orphanage and were very close, Mrs. Prunty said.
For days, he told her he was going to kill himself.
"I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to get him help," said Mrs. Prunty, who is retired from the Veterans Affairs mental-hygiene clinic. "He wouldn't listen."
About 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Mrs. Prunty said her husband asked her to make a phone call to a friend. Then he walked downstairs and shot himself in the head.
Mrs. Prunty, 77, recalls her husband as a good man who looked out for others, but ultimately couldn't resolve his own problems.
Not long after meeting in a jitterbug class, the couple married in 1952. She was from the North Side; he from Franklinton. Mr. Prunty served in the Navy in 1946 and '47, she said.
"He said he had a girl in every port," Mrs. Prunty said. "Then he would pull up his leg and show off his tattoo of a Hawaiian girl."
He operated a used tool and hardware store in the Short North until it was destroyed by fire in 1984.
"He moved some of that stuff into the house," she said.
Most neighbors overlooked the clutter as a harmless eccentricity, said Chuck Dill of Como Avenue.
"He would make a pile on the porch and get rid of it. But he never met a man he wouldn't help," Dill said. "He would give the shirt off his back for anyone."
Everyone in the community called him "Mr. Fix-it."
Several residents along the quiet, dead-end street had Mr. Fix-it anecdotes. He helped one family install a garage light. He watched homes for vacationing neighbors and once stopped a burglar from taking a lawn mower from a garage.
"We really cared for him a lot. He was a wonderful guy. We're really going to miss him," neighbor Katie Darnall said.
Doral Chenoweth III.
Ruth Prunty and her husband, Jim, were ordered by city health officials to clean their property or vacate it until the problem was fixed. Jim Prunty killed himself Saturday.
Jim Prunty Edition: Home Final
Page: 01B
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - February 10, 1999
Deceased Name: James Brent Prunty
PRUNTY James Brent Prunty, age 70, Saturday, February 6, 1999. Preceded in death by mother Anna Prorock Stortz, step-father C. Russell Stortz and brother Francis Delmar Prunty. Survived by wife, Ruth; sister, Alice (Rick) Laipply; sister-in-law, Vicki Prunty; nieces and nephews. Funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 1999 at RUTHERFORD FUNERAL HOME, 2383 N. High St., Columbus, where friends may call from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Pastor William L. Snider officiating. Interment will be later at Union Cemetery.
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH)
Date: February 10, 1999
Edition: Home Final
Page: 09B
Record Number: 9902100175
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
[Her first husband was James Alden Prunty, he died in 1970 in IL. Francis "Frank" Delmar Prunty was his brother, not spouse.]
Second obit:
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Tuesday, February 9, 1999
Deceased Name: Jim Prunty: WIFE TRIED IN VAIN TO GET HELP FOR TROUBLED SPOUSE
A hacksaw and a helping hand are harder to find in Clintonville after the death of "Mr. Fix-it."
Jim Prunty shot himself Saturday in the Como Avenue basement where he saved balls of yarn, old magazines, used equipment and ceiling-high piles of other items he couldn't part with.
"It's something that didn't have to happen," his wife, Ruth, said.
Mr. Prunty, 70, a retired junk dealer and admitted pack rat, had been depressed, she said, about being ordered by the city Health Department to clean the clutter from his ranch house.
An order had been filed by the city Dec. 31, saying the couple needed to correct health-code violations within a few days or vacate the premises until problems were fixed.
Officials observed piles of debris and clutter throughout the house that hampered the ability to get in and out of rooms.
City health officials yesterday said the couple had made progress and that the order to vacate had been lifted, but Mrs. Prunty said it still was too much pressure for her husband.
The Health Department first took the couple to the environmental division of Franklin County Municipal Court in 1995 over debris on the front porch and surrounding the house. The Pruntys cleaned it up.
Then health officials received an anonymous complaint about garbage and the property's appearance in January 1998. An inspector said the inside of the house also was a hazard.
Inspectors said that after several months during which Prunty was not cooperative, they had no choice but to seek the order against him. In the meantime, they attempted to line up several agencies to assist the couple with the cleanup, officials said.
The house showed progress and officials told the Pruntys through their attorney that they wouldn't have to leave the house as long as progress continued, city officials said.
But that wasn't clear to the Pruntys, who thought they were going to be thrown out of their home, Mrs. Prunty said. Her husband became distraught, she said.
"That is a heck of a thing to force on someone his age," she said. "We lived here 30 years. How can we throw all that stuff out?"
The couple hadn't heard any complaints from neighbors, she said, and they never had roaches or rodent troubles.
"I'm not a good housekeeper, I grant you that," she said.
Mr. Prunty also was upset about the death of his brother, Frank, in October. They were raised in an orphanage and were very close, Mrs. Prunty said.
For days, he told her he was going to kill himself.
"I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to get him help," said Mrs. Prunty, who is retired from the Veterans Affairs mental-hygiene clinic. "He wouldn't listen."
About 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Mrs. Prunty said her husband asked her to make a phone call to a friend. Then he walked downstairs and shot himself in the head.
Mrs. Prunty, 77, recalls her husband as a good man who looked out for others, but ultimately couldn't resolve his own problems.
Not long after meeting in a jitterbug class, the couple married in 1952. She was from the North Side; he from Franklinton. Mr. Prunty served in the Navy in 1946 and '47, she said.
"He said he had a girl in every port," Mrs. Prunty said. "Then he would pull up his leg and show off his tattoo of a Hawaiian girl."
He operated a used tool and hardware store in the Short North until it was destroyed by fire in 1984.
"He moved some of that stuff into the house," she said.
Most neighbors overlooked the clutter as a harmless eccentricity, said Chuck Dill of Como Avenue.
"He would make a pile on the porch and get rid of it. But he never met a man he wouldn't help," Dill said. "He would give the shirt off his back for anyone."
Everyone in the community called him "Mr. Fix-it."
Several residents along the quiet, dead-end street had Mr. Fix-it anecdotes. He helped one family install a garage light. He watched homes for vacationing neighbors and once stopped a burglar from taking a lawn mower from a garage.
"We really cared for him a lot. He was a wonderful guy. We're really going to miss him," neighbor Katie Darnall said.
Doral Chenoweth III.
Ruth Prunty and her husband, Jim, were ordered by city health officials to clean their property or vacate it until the problem was fixed. Jim Prunty killed himself Saturday.
Jim Prunty Edition: Home Final
Page: 01B
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
Deceased Name: James Brent Prunty
PRUNTY James Brent Prunty, age 70, Saturday, February 6, 1999. Preceded in death by mother Anna Prorock Stortz, step-father C. Russell Stortz and brother Francis Delmar Prunty. Survived by wife, Ruth; sister, Alice (Rick) Laipply; sister-in-law, Vicki Prunty; nieces and nephews. Funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 1999 at RUTHERFORD FUNERAL HOME, 2383 N. High St., Columbus, where friends may call from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Pastor William L. Snider officiating. Interment will be later at Union Cemetery.
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH)
Date: February 10, 1999
Edition: Home Final
Page: 09B
Record Number: 9902100175
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
[Her first husband was James Alden Prunty, he died in 1970 in IL. Francis "Frank" Delmar Prunty was his brother, not spouse.]
Second obit:
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Tuesday, February 9, 1999
Deceased Name: Jim Prunty: WIFE TRIED IN VAIN TO GET HELP FOR TROUBLED SPOUSE
A hacksaw and a helping hand are harder to find in Clintonville after the death of "Mr. Fix-it."
Jim Prunty shot himself Saturday in the Como Avenue basement where he saved balls of yarn, old magazines, used equipment and ceiling-high piles of other items he couldn't part with.
"It's something that didn't have to happen," his wife, Ruth, said.
Mr. Prunty, 70, a retired junk dealer and admitted pack rat, had been depressed, she said, about being ordered by the city Health Department to clean the clutter from his ranch house.
An order had been filed by the city Dec. 31, saying the couple needed to correct health-code violations within a few days or vacate the premises until problems were fixed.
Officials observed piles of debris and clutter throughout the house that hampered the ability to get in and out of rooms.
City health officials yesterday said the couple had made progress and that the order to vacate had been lifted, but Mrs. Prunty said it still was too much pressure for her husband.
The Health Department first took the couple to the environmental division of Franklin County Municipal Court in 1995 over debris on the front porch and surrounding the house. The Pruntys cleaned it up.
Then health officials received an anonymous complaint about garbage and the property's appearance in January 1998. An inspector said the inside of the house also was a hazard.
Inspectors said that after several months during which Prunty was not cooperative, they had no choice but to seek the order against him. In the meantime, they attempted to line up several agencies to assist the couple with the cleanup, officials said.
The house showed progress and officials told the Pruntys through their attorney that they wouldn't have to leave the house as long as progress continued, city officials said.
But that wasn't clear to the Pruntys, who thought they were going to be thrown out of their home, Mrs. Prunty said. Her husband became distraught, she said.
"That is a heck of a thing to force on someone his age," she said. "We lived here 30 years. How can we throw all that stuff out?"
The couple hadn't heard any complaints from neighbors, she said, and they never had roaches or rodent troubles.
"I'm not a good housekeeper, I grant you that," she said.
Mr. Prunty also was upset about the death of his brother, Frank, in October. They were raised in an orphanage and were very close, Mrs. Prunty said.
For days, he told her he was going to kill himself.
"I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to get him help," said Mrs. Prunty, who is retired from the Veterans Affairs mental-hygiene clinic. "He wouldn't listen."
About 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Mrs. Prunty said her husband asked her to make a phone call to a friend. Then he walked downstairs and shot himself in the head.
Mrs. Prunty, 77, recalls her husband as a good man who looked out for others, but ultimately couldn't resolve his own problems.
Not long after meeting in a jitterbug class, the couple married in 1952. She was from the North Side; he from Franklinton. Mr. Prunty served in the Navy in 1946 and '47, she said.
"He said he had a girl in every port," Mrs. Prunty said. "Then he would pull up his leg and show off his tattoo of a Hawaiian girl."
He operated a used tool and hardware store in the Short North until it was destroyed by fire in 1984.
"He moved some of that stuff into the house," she said.
Most neighbors overlooked the clutter as a harmless eccentricity, said Chuck Dill of Como Avenue.
"He would make a pile on the porch and get rid of it. But he never met a man he wouldn't help," Dill said. "He would give the shirt off his back for anyone."
Everyone in the community called him "Mr. Fix-it."
Several residents along the quiet, dead-end street had Mr. Fix-it anecdotes. He helped one family install a garage light. He watched homes for vacationing neighbors and once stopped a burglar from taking a lawn mower from a garage.
"We really cared for him a lot. He was a wonderful guy. We're really going to miss him," neighbor Katie Darnall said.
Doral Chenoweth III.
Ruth Prunty and her husband, Jim, were ordered by city health officials to clean their property or vacate it until the problem was fixed. Jim Prunty killed himself Saturday.
Jim Prunty Edition: Home Final
Page: 01B
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1999 The Dispatch Printing Co.
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