Birth date: Jun 10, 1927 Death date: Jan 9, 2013
Jack Junior Rittenour, 85, formerly of Fredericksburg passed away Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at Franklin Woods Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Jack served in the US Navy during WWII in the Pacific Marshall Islands. He retired from Read Obituary
Memorial to Jack Junior Rittenour
As the writer of this eulogy, I find myself once again struggling to reduce an epic novel down to a couple of pages formatted for presentation at a one hour funeral service as I have previously done for my mother Evelyn Lorraine Rittenour three years ago. I have come to the conclusion that you must read my mother’s eulogy to get the complete story as my father’s passing and my father’s eulogy is a sequel story of reuniting two people who lived life as one as much as it is one man’s life… Jack J. Rittenour… We call him Dad.
On July 10, 1927 in Cumberland, Maryland, Born to Myrtle Virginia and Clarence Robert Rittenour, Jack Junior Rittenour was born. When I look at a newborn, it makes me curious as to, “What will their life path be? What will they do? Who will they become? Will they become famous or name worthy? How will they make a difference to others? or what kind of legacy will they leave?” The answers to these questions naturally reveal themselves once the life cycle has been completed, however in the case of Jack J. Rittenour; it was only necessary to have known him in your life cycle to understand the answers to those questions. Despite the who, what, when and where’s, his answers lie in the why. Because Dad had a simple reason for doing everything supported on a foundation of faith, love, honesty, bravery, patience, diligence and peace.
What was Dad’s path?
If there is one quality that might thread Dad’s path in life together… that’s Humility. Dad and I agreed in conversation that the benefit of humility is humility itself. The thought to me was very deep but as we discussed it together, the idea became very simple to grasp, rational and practical to implement.
Dad’s early path was rocky and challenging. During the depression (from 1929-1939) many families in America were faced with poverty as was Dad’s. Dad was the oldest of five children, one brother Ralph, and three sisters Jeanie, Ruth, and Mary Katherine. Government housing and clothing, dry food rations…barely enough to sustain life let alone fill your stomach, working as a child for pennies to help bring home family money, and eventually quitting school and opting to enlist in the Navy at age Seventeen. The Navy provided hopes for career, a little bit of cash and was one less mouth to feed at the family supper table.
Dad’s youth path also included love as he loved and honored his Mother and Father and claimed to have fallen in love at first sight in 1939 with young Evelyn Parker in the sixth grade. When Dad returned from the Pacific and was honorably discharged from the navy in 1944, Dad chose to return to Cumberland to be with his family and reunite with Evelyn now 18 years old. Dad and Evelyn (Mom) were married in 1946 and began to establish their future together.
In the beginning, their marriage was rocky and money was hard to come by. Over the course of their marriage Dad and Mom would have eight children, six boys and two girls. Their names were Thomas, Louise, Jack, Allen, Virginia, John, Samuel, and James. After moving the family from town to town to gain employment and after multiple stints in factories along the Alleghany rust belt, Dad decided to move the family to Baltimore, Maryland where they would settle in for about twenty-four years. It was in Baltimore at the Church of God on 25th street that Dad’s path was defined and set for the remainder of his life. A path set by eternal faith in god and commitment to family.
Dad priorities were very much in order, God, Mom, family, work and people. In 1977, Dad moved Mom and three boys to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Dad loved Virginia and his Rittenour roots in being one of the first families of Virginia made Virginia a very logical path.
What did Dad do?
• Helped to take raise his younger brothers and sisters in the absence of his father.
• Served in the US Navy during World War 2 and witnessed from the US Anzio, the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima in the South Pacific.
• In The 1943, Dad survived one of the worst Typhoon’s in the history of the South Pacific dur
~`"I will Miss You Soooo Much!"...You have been My Pop for a Long time now I have to give you up...I just don't want too. I will cherish all the memories we had! "God has you now!" Grandmom will be soooo glad to see you! My heart is so lost...But I will be o.k.
"Dear Lord, as you open Heavens Gates and take in My Pop give him a Big Hug for me!
Please Lord know that this man that stands before you in your presence is a whole lot like like you! Soooo much Love and Strength, patience and guidance. I will celebrate your life on Saturday. I know Heaven will be rejoicing too! I will hold you in my heart always!...I LOVE YOU POP!...."I WILL SEE YOU WHEN ICAN!"~
~CHRISTINA~
Good bye Uncle Jack. You were a very special person to me in my life and I know you will be joining Aunt Loraine in Heaven. I love you and will cherish all the memories of when you all would come and visit. Love Darlene Condry Bolen
