Thursday, November 22, 2018
Wife, children reflect on loss of James Vint
NILES
As Angie Vint cradled her first grandson, 2-month-old Daniel Dutting, she said just one thing was missing.
“I wish James was here to enjoy Daniel with us,” she said.
Angie’s husband, James Vint, died one year ago today.
On Nov. 22, 2017, the family’s garage in Hubbard caught fire, killing James, who was trapped inside.
“Last year, Thanksgiving was the day after he passed. It was the worst Thanksgiving,” she said. “But hopefully this year we will talk about the good memories.”
His death came just one week after the family’s house was also destroyed by a fire, killing their three dogs and bird.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal determined the first fire was caused by a faulty freezer line, but couldn’t pinpoint the source of the second fire.
Angie and her children – James, Justin and Kaitlyn – reflected on the loss of the husband and father as they sat in James’ parents’ house in Niles, where the Vint family spent holidays together.
Soon, it will be the Vint family’s new home, because Angie is buying the house from her father-in-law.
“I was honored to be able to buy this place, with all its memories,” she said. “We are going to start new traditions with the kids.”
James Jr. said he misses the corny jokes his father would make while saying a prayer before Thanksgiving dinner.
Despite the tragedies the family has faced, Angie said she feels grateful for the house and for Daniel, who is James Jr.’s son.
The family honored James with a memorial shrine at their former home in Salem. The shrine contained his urn, pictures of him and candles.
Angie also got a tattoo of his face, with the words “I love you” and James’ signature as a tribute to him.
“I miss everything about him. I miss his jokes; he loved to play around. My daughter takes after him on that one,” she said. “He never went to bed without telling us he loves us, and giving us all a hug and kiss good night. We miss that. He was very comforting.”
“We’ll be sitting there laughing, and then someone will bring up a memory and we will all start crying,” she added. “We all loved him. He was a wonderful person.”
James Jr. said the pain of his father’s loss will never fully go away.
Angie agreed.
“No amount of time will make that memory go away. Every time I go past the house, I think about what happened that day and the fact I couldn’t be there to help him,” she said.
The family originally planned on rebuilding on the family’s Simler Street property in Hubbard, but James Jr. said it was too hard for the family to be there.
Rebuilding the house “wouldn’t be a good decision under the circumstances,” Angie said.
James Jr. will inherit his father’s motorcycle. He said he misses working on cars and bikes with him.
James’ father, James Vint Sr., said they used to ride motorcycles together often. Some trips they took included Canada and Geneva-on-the-Lake.
“We had a good time,” he said. “We loved each other a lot. I miss him.”
Vint also thanked Christina Cozza for setting up the community clothing drive, her neighbors Jason and Brandi Grisby for setting up a Go Fund Me account, and for all the other community organizations that helped.
She especially thanked Sgt. Robert Thompson, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the garage fire and tried to rescue James.