Prentice Elliott Troutman 1914-1996
Prentice Elliott Troutman was born Sept. 22, 1914 in McLean County,
KY to Dan Yeiser Troutman and Jennie Ruth (Lee) Troutman of McLean County, KY.
Subject was the 2nd child born to his parents, his siblings being Vaden Lee,
Dorothy May, Janada Gay and Lois Ray Troutman
He attended school for eight years at Liberty School
father on the
farm.
Prentice and his older brother Vaden loved tinkering on things. As youngsters, they made toy tractors, trains, wagon and cars from wood. They bought an old car when they were still young, got it running and they had a car. Prentice and Vaden opened up a garage in 1936 called Troutman Bros. Garage. The garage was in Buel, KY, where they also operated a small grocery store.
(The above photo I do not believe is their store, but there are cars around back, and the sign when zoomed in on says Dan Troutman, General Merchandise and Dan was their father. This photo is dated 1940)
Prentice married Oct. 5, 1936 in Rockport, Indiana to Ina Mavis Henton,
daughter of Guy Napolean Henton and Mary Flossie (Greenwalt) Henton of McLean
County, KY. Mavis worked in the grocery store, while Prentice worked in the
garage, doing his love of tinkering.
They moved to Owensboro on Nov. 23, 1939 where Prentice went to work for
Short Bro. Motor Company. March 1940, Prentice and Mavis became the parents of a
son, Donald Troutman. In 1941, Prentice and Mavis moved to Calhoun, KY where he
went to work for Leachman's Chevrolet Garage. Towards the end of the year, in
the very last of the month of December, they borrowed $600.00 to buy a place
near Buel. Prentice once again worked with his brother in Buel.
Then Feb. 1952 they
moved to Morganfield, Union Co., KY and he went to work at Mason - Waller
Chevrolet Garage. After a short while, he left the garage and went to work for
the city in a garage. He worked there until he retired in Sept. 1979. Although
retirement didn't stop him from tinkering on automobiles. He still had his own
car, and in later years, his two grandsons also had cars that if he had a
chance, he would be under the hood fine tuning how the car ran.
There in Morganfield
he continued to tinker on cars when he got the chance, and also raised a small
garden every year that was always sure to produce good healthy vegetables.
August 1956 he was
baptized into the Church of Christ. He served as Church treasurer in Sturgis, KY
from 1963 to 1979. He was active at both Sturgis and Morganfield Church of
Christ until his health prevented him from going regularly (1996). 
August 1993 Prentice and Mavis auctioned off their home and moved to
Owensboro, KY to a retirement home. Prentice had Parkinson's disease and was
beginning to have trouble keeping up with the yard work and the steps. But at
the retirement home they soon made friends, plus they were close to their
siblings who were still in the general area.
Prentice died Dec. 8, 1996 from an aneurysm in his stomach. He knew he was dying at the hospital, but was not afraid to go on. He had lived a good long life, seen many changes in his time, and was ready for the next step in his life.
He was a father to one son, grandfather to two grandsons, and great grandfather to a granddaughter and grandson. Prentice and Mavis celebrated 60 years of married life together.
(Remembrances of Poppa)
I did not know Poppa very long, but I do remember him liking chocolate covered cherries and Big Red Soda. A very quiet man, but he took in everything that was going on around him and would occasionally speak up to be part of the conversation. At Christmas he was sly and quiet. While others were opening presents, he would take out his pocketknife and carefully cut the tape on his presents and then quietly unwrap them and then you would look over and think well how did he do that without anyone noticing or hearing him? In the summertime he would grill some mouth-watering hamburgers, as I've eaten a fair share of them. I can see traces of Poppa in my husband Tim even today.