New Milford man dies in tree accident
http://www.newstimes.com/news/story.php?id=1011700
By Brian Saxton
THE NEWS-TIMES
SHERMAN -- Ward Stumpf Jr. had worked around wood for more than 20 years.
The 49-year-old New Milford man was a carpenter and often did tree work for friends and neighbors.
This summer, he decided to start his own business and called it Merryall Tree Works.
On Tuesday, while working in the heavy morning rain on a job in Sherman, Stumpf died when he fell 30 feet from a tree he was helping to trim at a house on Atchison Cove Road.
Connecticut police state trooper J. Festa said Stumpf fell around 10:50 a.m., after a limb he was working on suddenly snapped. Festa said Stumpf was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner.
Festa said Stumpf's brother, Earl, 42, who was working with him, was on the ground at the time of the accident."The work was being done at the back of the house," said Festa. "It seems he was standing on the limb with his equipment attached to it when the limb broke."
Festa said OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, will conduct an investigation into Stumpf's death.
Stumpf's wife, Mona, said her husband had lived in New Milford since he was 9 years old and graduated from New Milford High School in 1974.
He leaves four daughters -- Iris, 7; Marissa, 10; Allison, 15; and Laura, 18, a freshman this year at the University of Connecticut.
"He was a wonderful man," said Mona Stumpf. "I'm still in disbelief at this time."
Mona Stumpf described her husband as "a great outdoors man.""He was always doing tree work for friends or anyone who needed help, but this year he decided to go into his own business," she said. "He was going to celebrate his 50th birthday this weekend."
Family friend Donna Cooper O'Boyle remembered Ward Stumpf as a generous man."Ward would do anything for anyone," she said. "They're just wonderful, loving, caring people. We're all in a state of shock."
Two years ago Ward Stumpf, with the help of Charlie Toussaint, a passing motorist, helped save eight horses from a barn fire in the Merryall section of New Milford.
"I just had to get them out," said Stumpf, who was heading home with his family from a picnic when he came upon the fire. "They were locked in their stalls. It would have been a shame to let them perish."
Contact Brian Saxton at
bsaxton@newstimes.com
or at (203) 731-3332.
http://www.newstimes.com/news/story.php?id=1011700
By Brian Saxton
THE NEWS-TIMES
SHERMAN -- Ward Stumpf Jr. had worked around wood for more than 20 years.
The 49-year-old New Milford man was a carpenter and often did tree work for friends and neighbors.
This summer, he decided to start his own business and called it Merryall Tree Works.
On Tuesday, while working in the heavy morning rain on a job in Sherman, Stumpf died when he fell 30 feet from a tree he was helping to trim at a house on Atchison Cove Road.
Connecticut police state trooper J. Festa said Stumpf fell around 10:50 a.m., after a limb he was working on suddenly snapped. Festa said Stumpf was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner.
Festa said Stumpf's brother, Earl, 42, who was working with him, was on the ground at the time of the accident."The work was being done at the back of the house," said Festa. "It seems he was standing on the limb with his equipment attached to it when the limb broke."
Festa said OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, will conduct an investigation into Stumpf's death.
Stumpf's wife, Mona, said her husband had lived in New Milford since he was 9 years old and graduated from New Milford High School in 1974.
He leaves four daughters -- Iris, 7; Marissa, 10; Allison, 15; and Laura, 18, a freshman this year at the University of Connecticut.
"He was a wonderful man," said Mona Stumpf. "I'm still in disbelief at this time."
Mona Stumpf described her husband as "a great outdoors man.""He was always doing tree work for friends or anyone who needed help, but this year he decided to go into his own business," she said. "He was going to celebrate his 50th birthday this weekend."
Family friend Donna Cooper O'Boyle remembered Ward Stumpf as a generous man."Ward would do anything for anyone," she said. "They're just wonderful, loving, caring people. We're all in a state of shock."
Two years ago Ward Stumpf, with the help of Charlie Toussaint, a passing motorist, helped save eight horses from a barn fire in the Merryall section of New Milford.
"I just had to get them out," said Stumpf, who was heading home with his family from a picnic when he came upon the fire. "They were locked in their stalls. It would have been a shame to let them perish."
Contact Brian Saxton at
bsaxton@newstimes.com
or at (203) 731-3332.
