ASHLAND – Ashland City Council member and longtime local business owner Al Farnam died Monday morning in his Ashland home.
Elected in November 2017 to represent the city’s fourth ward on the city council, Farnam served from January 2018 until his death.
Farnam was known to many in town as the owner of Al Farnam Maintenance, which he founded in 1985 to work on heating and cooling, electrical and plumbing systems.
“He’s known in town for being a very honest business man with great integrity and trustworthiness,” said Dan Lawson, a fellow council member who also attended church with Farnam. “He would go above and beyond if people had problems with their heating and air conditioning.
“He often would be there himself to help them on the spot, and he would worry about the finances and paying for it later. He just wanted to help.”
Farnam was known for his Christian faith and his integrity, but he also had a great sense of humor, Lawson said.
“People used to tell him he looked like the main character from the movie ‘Up,’ and he loved that,” Lawson said.
Farnam was an active member of Park Street Brethren Church, where he served on the building committee for the church’s planned expansion. He even installed the air conditioning system at the church, Lawson said.
As committed as he was to serving the customers through his business, Farnam was equally dedicated to serving the community through his role on council.
Despite heart troubles and an advanced stage cancer diagnosis in recent months, Farnam remained as active as possible, both at work and in city government. He suffered a stroke last week.
“Even just a few days before his stroke, he was still doing work and answering emails for city council,” Lawson said. “He was posting things on Facebook, letting people know about gas leaks and things that were happening around town.
“He was very responsive when people expressed a concern or had questions. He’s going to leave a big hole on city council and we’re going to miss him a lot,” Lawson said.
Mayor Matt Miller said he will miss Farnam’s easy smile and kind heart.
“He loved and supported our community for many years, and he would always be quick to say how good the Ashland community had been to him,” Miller said.
Though Farnam’s time on the council was brief, Miller said, he voted on “some of the most important projects that our city has pursued in the past few decades.”
It was clear Farnam took his responsibility to constituents seriously.
“You could not ask for a better person to serve on our city council because through his business activities he had personally met more people and been in more people’s homes throughout our city than anyone else who lives here,” Miller said.
Miller said Farnam and his family experienced an outpouring of love and support from the community in his final days, receiving many cards, phone calls and visitors while Farnam was in a Columbus hospital as well as after he returned home.
“I am so thankful that he was able to see firsthand how much the community cared about him during the past few weeks,” Miller said.
Calling hours for Farnam are scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at Ashland University’s Jack and Deb Miller Chapel, 456 College Ave. A funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. at the chapel. Rev. Harry Strachan will be the officiant, and Rev. Nate Bebout will be co-celebrant. Denbow-Gasche Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
