I saw that one of my neighbors has the umbrella from his patio table,
which came with the house, lying in a corner of his yard, only
half-closed, and still very big.

Is there any reason he can't close the umbrella? I want to offer to
help, without either insulting him or failing.

Does the 2" diameter ring that the ribs attach to at the bottom come
completely off the center shaft? He has the shaft disassembled in the
middle, with the top and bottom halfs close to each other, overlapping
mostly. The top half of the shaft/tube is, I think, permanently
attached to the umbrella part, the top of the ribs, but it seems like it
would be a little easy to handle if the bottom part of the shaft was
spearate. .

The ring is about 6" above the bottom end of the bottom half.