Cleveland Daniel Plunkett, 84, of Hillsboro, died at 7:43 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, at his residence.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 9, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hillsboro. Funeral services will follow at noon at the church with the Rev. Stefan Munker, pastor at St. Paul’s, officiating. Burial will be at Cress Hill Cemetery in Hillsboro at a later date. Hough and Sons Funeral Home in Hillsboro is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Plunkett was born on June 29, 1940, in Litchfield to August and Mabel (Micenheimer) Plunkett. He grew up in Greenville, Hillsboro and in Litchfield with his parents in the back of Plunkett Grocery. He married Delores Elaine Hartman on Oct. 24, 1959, and she survives in Hillsboro.
Mr. Plunkett began as a teenager working as a pinsetter at Knisley’s Hillsboro Bowl before working at Roller Derby in Litchfield and in carpentry and construction. His career began in 1969 when he started an insurance business at the kitchen table with his wife, and he grew the business by purchasing the George Fram Insurance Agency. After years of dedicated customer service, he eventually achieved his dream of operating Plunkett Insurance and Real Estate from a downtown storefront on Main Street in Hillsboro. After retiring from the insurance business, he owned, operated and maintained numerous rental units.
A lifelong Lutheran, he was an active and dependable member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hillsboro where he had served as property chairman and sound technician. In the 1970s, he was a founding member of Montgomery County Citizens for Drug Free Youth.
In addition to his wife in Hillsboro, he is survived by a son, Mike (wife Heather) of Hillsboro; four grandchildren, Doug Patton, Daniel Fenton, Sarah Rinker and August Plunkett; five great-grandchildren; a sister, Leona (husband Leland) Redfern of Centralia; and two sons-in-law, Danny Patton of Hillsboro and Brent Bower of Olney.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two daughters, Debra Patton and Brenda Bower; two sisters, Madeliene Moler and Valeria Hancock; and a brother, Lloyd Plunkett.
Memorials may be given to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hillsboro. Condolences may be left online at www.houghfuneralhome.com
