My Dad Died Yesterday - Jack Pittenger's Obit

My Dad died yesterday after a long battle with Alzheimer's. We are burying him Monday in Vivian. Below is his obit. Like all obits, it is no more than a book blurb for a novel that took a lifetime to write.

Jack Howard Pittenger, a true American hero, passed from this earth on July 21 at the Norman Regional Veteran's Center in Norman, Oklahoma, three days shy of his ninety-first birthday. Jack was born in Trees City, Louisiana on July 24, 1919. He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 through 1945 where he took part in the campaigns of Normandy, Dinard, Brest, the Crozon Peninsula, and Luxembourg. In Germany, he saw action at Haertgen, from the Roer to the Rhine, and in the Ruhr Pocket, and was in the Elbe River area on V-E Day. He earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, and the European Theatre of Operations Ribbon with four battle stars.


He married Mavis Lela Pittman in 1943. They settled in Vivian and were married sixty-three years at the time of Mavis' death in 2006. Jack was a talented builder and built many homes in Vivian before becoming a pipefitter. He was a lifetime member of the Plumber's and Pipefitter's Union and retired in 1982.

Jack is preceded in death by wife Mavis, Mother Dale O'Rear Rood, step-father Oscar Rood and sister Carmol. He had two sons Jack Jr. and Gary (Eric), and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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