Electrician also served as mayor in Edgerton
posted by admin in Home InspectionMarlin W. “Red†Pettit, 69, a former mayor and a longtime head electrician for this Williams County village, died Thursday in Lutheran Hospital of Indiana in Fort Wayne.
The death came unexpectedly while Mr. Pettit was recovering from quadruple bypass surgery, his wife, Karen Pettit, said.
Nicknamed for his bright red hair, Mr. Pettit was an electrician by trade who for 15 years ran his own business — Reddy Electric — from his homestead just outside of town on County Road 450.
In 1985 he closed shop and took a job as Edgerton’s electric superintendent, a position that placed him in charge of the village’s power supply, traffic lights, power lines, and utility poles.
He quickly became immersed in the job, and with finding ways to upgrade the system’s efficiency and reliability, his son Robbin Pettit said.
“He was a take-charge kind of person. Whatever he got into, it was all-the-way,†his son said.
Mr. Pettit enjoyed keeping abreast of the latest equipment for the job, a trait that family members say carried over to home life, be it the newest electronic gizmos or early generation microwave ovens.
“We’d call him Mr. Gadget,†his son said.
By the late 1990s, after nearly 15 years as a village employee, Mr. Pettit’s co-workers and friends were urging him to run for mayor. So in 1999, he did.
“We had the same mayor for 16 years, so he ran to give the people somebody else to vote for,†said Bob Wrinkle, a close friend.
Yet despite his familiarity with the village’s day-to-day operations, Mr. Pettit was surprised by the political challenges he faced in office, particularly when it came to working with village council, according to family and friends. He did not seek re-election in 2003.
“After one term, that was all he wanted,†Mr. Wrinkle said.
After deciding not to run, Mr. Pettit encouraged current village Mayor Lance Bowsher, at the time a councilman, to fill the office. Mr. Bowsher said he holds a deep respect for his predecessor.
“His main objective when he sat around that table was to do what he thought was best for the village,†Mr. Bowsher said. “He always spoke his mind, and you always knew where he stood.â€
Mr. Pettit was born in Hills-dale, Mich., the youngest of three children. His family moved to Edgerton while he was in elementary school, and in 1958 Mr. Pettit graduated from Edgerton High School. He married Karen Dunson in 1960.
Mr. Pettit’s father, the late William Pettit, was an electrician.
The younger Mr. Pettit worked for several area contractors and in electrical maintenance for Edgerton Local Schools before starting out on his own, his wife said.
He was a member of the volunteer Edgerton Fire Department from 1964 to 1980, and for many years was a baseball umpire in the village.
He was a member of the Williams County Planning Commission, and had previously served on the county’s fair board and the village’s Board of Public Affairs.
Surviving are his wife, Karen Pettit; sons, Robbin and Sean Pettit; daughter, Gidget Pettit; sister, Jeanice Snyder, and six grandchildren.
Visitation will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Krill Funeral Home, Edgerton. Services will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the funeral home.
The family suggests tributes to the Williams County Humane Society.
Tags: anc, business, embers, Generation, maintenance, Operation, s board, trafficRelated posts
Did you enjoy Electrician also served as mayor in Edgerton? Subscribe to RSS Feed.
Social Bookmarking
