BALLSTON — Friends and family of Mitchell Draina were remembering the Ballston Lake saw mill operator Tuesday, the day after he was killed in a logging accident.

Draina, 55, of Outlet Road, died of injuries received when he was struck by falling tree limbs on Scotch Bush Road in East Glenville on Monday afternoon.

Investigators said Draina and a co-worker followed correct procedures for bringing down a tree, but limbs from a neighboring tree fell and caused the fatal injuries.

Denis Draina of Malta said his younger brother enjoyed running his saw mill.

“Mitch acquired that property on Outlet Road and bought the old saw mill equipment and made a good business of it,” he said.

His brother had graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo and was ranked second in his wrestling weight class, according to Denis Draina.

“He graduated with a teaching degree and did some substitute teaching, but that was all,” he said.

In recent years, Draina had acquired registered Belgian draft horses.

“About 20 years ago, he had some riding horses and he started talking with [Stanley] ‘Doc’ Garrison about draft horses,” Denis Draina said.

Garrison was a longtime veterinarian in the Ballston area.

“Doc said he was flying out to a draft horse auction, and Mitch went along and ended up getting started with those too,” Draina said.

Cathy Barner, who works for the Saratoga County Fair, said she was familiar with Mitchell Draina because of his pumpkin patch.

She said she often took her children when they were young to Draina’s saw mill in the fall.

“He had wagon rides with draft horses through the fields before Halloween, and I remember a witch on a cable that would move in the wind,” she said.

A caldron in the field would look sinister at first, but children who approached it would find lollypops, Barner said.

“They went out of their way to make it fun for the children,” she said.

Besides the pumpkins, the Drainas grew other produce that was sold from a farm stand on Outlet Road.