His birth certificate was typed wrong so his last name is spelled “Pruitt” instead of “Pruett”. As a child he went by Pruett but when he enlisted into the army after graduating from high school, he was told he had to go by “Pruitt” until he changed his birth certificate. He never changed it so his children and grandchildren became “Pruitt”.

James graduated from Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia. After high school, he served in the US Army.

James Travis Pruitt married Wanda Gay Boyd (born 6/20/1947) on February 14, 1965. Wanda was from English, West Virginia.

Shortly after marrying, they moved to Indiana and settled in Kendallville. James worked at Kraft Foods, Inc until he retired in 2001. Wanda worked had a cleaning business cleaning physician and dentist offices in the area until she retired in 2013.

They had 4 children: 

Latesa Gay Pruitt born June 1, 1966

Travis Burnell Pruitt born June 20, 1967

Henry Irvan Pruitt born July 30, 1968

Boyd Niven Pruitt born November 14, 1971