Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MARTY CLEARB.D. McNutt, a comptroller for a meat company, dies three weeks after learning he has pancreatic cancer.
VIRGINIA PARK - B.D. McNutt lived to be 92 years old, but he wasn't an easy man to slow down.
He tried to retire once in his 60s, but it didn't take. After a few weeks, he returned to his job as comptroller for Jim Cody Meats, where he continued to work until age 90.
He and his wife, Elizabeth, had season tickets to the University of Florida Gators football games since the 1950s and went to all the home games and many away ones. Even in the past few years, they attended games regularly.
The McNutts owned lakefront property in Hernando County, a frequent family gathering spot. Mr. McNutt presided over cookouts attended by children, grandchildren and friends.
Until the end of his life, he was an active Mason and member of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection. He died Aug. 30.
Mr. McNutt didn't begin to scale back his busy social calendar until last year, family members say. He never complained about aches and pains or illnesses, so it took a while to get him to go to the hospital. Doctors discovered his pancreatic cancer a few weeks ago.
"He was pretty upbeat about it," said his son, Dan McNutt. "He just said, "Well, I've had a good life. I've outlived a lot my friends.' "
Mr. McNutt died peacefully at his home in Virginia Park three weeks after learning he had cancer. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and two granddaughters. A third son was killed in Vietnam in 1970.
Mr. McNutt was born in Deridder, La., and spent most of his life working as an accountant for meat-packing companies. He was working for a now-defunct meat packer called Wilson & Co. when he met his wife-to-be in a small Mississippi town called Okolona.
In 1938, they married. Almost immediately, Wilson transferred Mr. McNutt to Tampa. They lived in a small South Tampa apartment for a few years, then moved to Atlanta. They returned to Tampa in 1943 and bought a home on San Juan Street, where the couple lived for the next 60 years.
After Wilson & Co. closed, Mr. McNutt worked for Tarnow Foods, then Jim Cody Meats.
"He retired, but then something happened. His replacement didn't work out or something, and he went right back there," Dan McNutt said. "He worked there until about 18 months ago. He'd go in three or four days a week for five for six hours a day. He loved the people out there."
Mr. McNutt was a passionate outdoorsman and often took his sons hunting for quail and dove.
Hardly ever was Mr. McNutt addressed by his real first name. He was always Mac or B.D., his son said. And for good reason.
"Well, his first name was Beverly," Dan McNutt said. "And I'm a junior."
Beverly used to be a common man's name in the South, Dan McNutt said, even though he hasn't run into too many men with the name. To keep the family tradition alive, Dan McNutt, who goes by his middle name, named his daughter Beverly.
Mr. McNutt was a 32nd Degree Mason and often participated in the burial ritual for fellow Masons. His son said he saw the ceremony for the first time Tuesday, when the Masons performed it in honor of his father.
"I tell you what, it was a beautiful thing to see," he said.