Prindle, Glen A. – 1887-1984

CHAMBERS, DE GOEY, PRINDLE

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 11/5/2014 at 17:03:09

Glen A. Prindle, 96, of Reasnor, a longtime resident of the Reasnor community and one of the first Jasper Countians to adapt to modern inventions, died Thursday, March 22, at the Pella Community Hospital.
Among new items he experimented with was a 1907 one-cylinder Cadillac automobile, lighting for his home, the camera and a home-built tractor.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 26, at the Wallace Pence Funeral Home in Newton.
The Rev. Eldon Pals of Newton will conduct services. Burial will be at the Hewitt Cemetery.
Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Saturday, March 24.
He was preceded in death by his parents, first wife Elizabeth and his second wife, Celia.
The son of Harrison and Della Chambers Prindle, he was born Dec. 14, 1887 on a farm southeast of Reasnor.
He was married to Elizabeth M. De Goey March 12, 1913 and to Celia Z. McCuen Lust Oct. 24, 1967.
Mr. Prindle who was unable to attend school as a child obtained a position in the engineering department at the McCormick Works of International Harvester in Chicago, Ill., in 1927 after completing a correspondence school course. He was employed by the firm doing drafting and design until retiring in 1932
At the age of 87, Mr. Prindle took the Comprehensive Examinations and received his high school equivalency certificate Aug. 15, 1975.
He was the first person in his neighborhood to use a homemade spit log road drag to smooth out the ruts in the road. In 1909 he put in a gasoline engine-driven generator and Edison storage batteries to light his home; in 1910 he made his first wireless receiver to receive code signals and in 1912 made a tractor to do farm work. Later he used the tractor to cultivate and plant corn. In 1919 he began to pick corn with a mechanical corn picker.
He also was the first person in the area to own a camera, a 4 by 5 inch box camera. Later he purchased at 6 ½ by 8 ½ inch camera with a two-foot bellows. Both used glass plates, which he developed and printed himself. He made a home enlarger and was able to enlarge his pictures to 16 by 20 inches.
He used magnesium powder for a flash or took pictures by moonlight.
He received requests from all over the community to take pictures of babies, persons lying in state, young men and their hitches, and sometimes couples.
After his retirement Mr. Prindle built a 40-inch four-harness loom and wove everything from cloth to bed spreads and rugs. Living History farms near Des Moines sold his work and some examples went to The Netherlands and to missionaries throughout the world.
He lived by the creed, “Do right because it is right, not in hope of future reward nor in fear of future punishment.
Source: Newton Daily News; Friday, 23 March 1984