A 71-year-old Ortonville man died of natural causes while sitting in downtown Oxford’s Centennial Park on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 15.
His name was Orie Woodrow Craft (see obituary on Page 15) and the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was congestive heart failure.
Oxford Village Police were called to the park regarding an elderly man who was found slumped over while sitting on a bench in the gazebo.
Craft was unresponsive and not breathing, according to police. CPR was started by the officer and the Oxford Fire Department was called to the scene.
Firefighters arrived and continued CPR, but they were unable to resuscitate Craft and he was pronounced dead at 10:59 a.m.
Police learned Craft had dropped off his vehicle at Harmon Glass (40 N. Washington St.) to have the windshield repaired and apparently walked over to the park to wait until it was ready for pickup.