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To Ken with dearest love from Dad March V 1938 |
Capture for life’s journey the glory of Christ as your master is the prayer of your adoring Dad |
Kenneth Hills Bitting, Jr.; ran General Sign Co.
Kenneth Hills Bitting Jr., the president of General Sign Co., died Sunday (Aug. 2, 1998) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital of complications from a stroke. He was 73 and lived in Ladue and Middletown, R.I.
Mr. Bitting was born and reared in St. Louis. He attended Yale University. He was commissioned in the Navy in 1943. He served as gunnery officer aboard the USS Gillette, DDE, seeing action in the Atlantic as a convoy escort - depthcharging several German U-boats. Later he saw action in the Pacific and was honorably discharged from active duty in the spring of 1946.
In 1975, Mr. Bitting ended a 28-year career at Anheuser-Busch as group manager for plant operations. He served as the first plant manager of the new brewery in Tampa, Florida, moving there from Los Angeles, where he had been assistant manager. In Tampa he oversaw the final months of construction and later created Busch Gardens there. He then served as plant manager for the brewery in Newark, following which he managed the brewry in St. Louis before assuming his duties as group manager of plant operations.
Later, he founded Packaging Associates Corp. to handle brewing and packaging machinery and supplies. In 1980, he became president of South Ranch Drilling Company Inc. He served as secretary-treasurer of the Mississippi River Race Corp. here. He co-produced power boat races from New Orleans to St. Louis in the late 1980s.
He joined General Sign, an outdoor sign company based in Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 1993 as a management consultant. Later, he was appointed president.
Mr. Bitting had served as vice chairman of the Bi-State Chapter of the American Red Cross and committee chairman of the Missouri-Illinois Regional Red Cross Blood Program.
He was a member of the Newport, R.I., Country Club and and the St. Louis Country Club.
Mr. Bitting is survived by his wife of 51 years, Adelaide Hare Powel Bitting; a sister, Barbara Bitting Lowe of Sewickley, Pa.; two brothers, William C. Bitting and George C. Bitting, both of St. Louis; four sons, Kenneth H. Bitting III of West Palm Beach, Fla., Thomas H.P. Bitting and William H. Bitting, both of St Louis, and Jonathan K. Bitting of New Canaan, Conn.; and seven grandchildren.
A private burial will precede a 1 p.m. Friday memorial service at St. Michael and St. George Episcopal Church, 6345 Wydown Boulevard in Clayton. No visitation is planned.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the American Red Cross, 10195 Corporate Square, St Louis, Mo. 63132.
Based on: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Tuesday, August 4, 1998.
also see: Providence Journal - Aug 5th
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4. Come with thy doubts to me, |
6. Come as thou art to me, |
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5. Come bring thy sins to me, |
7. Jesus, who callest me. |
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From: “Come Unto Me.” Words and Music by W. C. Bitting (ca. 1882) | |
Some pictures of Ken's family gathered.