WITTREN, Robert Warren 1923-2012

WITTREN, ANDERSON, SMITH, MOSCON, BARTON, SIEGMAN, MENDES

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 4/27/2012 at 18:02:32

[Waterloo Courier, Sunday, February 5, 2012]

Robert Warren Wittren, born Dec. 28, 1923, on a farm in Fairchild, Wis., went to Heaven on Jan. 25, 2012, in Hayward, Calif., after a brief illness.

Bob moved to Iowa with his family in the mid-1930s, graduating from high school in Cedar Falls in June of 1942. He worked for John Deere until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in March of 1943. He was honorably discharged from the Army due to his polio-related disabilities and then entered State Teachers College before moving to Spokane, Wash., where he worked as an Engine Test Inspector working on B17s and B29s at Spokane Air Tech Command until the end of World War II.

He returned to Iowa and started a construction equipment business dealing with surplus war vehicles and also worked for Harry Peterson Auto Service in Waterloo as a mechanic. He moved to California in the fall of 1948, attending Aero Tech Institute where he received a government issued Aircraft & Power Plant Certificate. Dad had a life long love of engines and he could fix anything!

He met his first wife, Gloria Anderson, in San Francisco and they were married in April of 1949; their son, Robert Chester, was born in 1950. They moved to Iowa in the late 50s, returning to California in 1952. After their divorce in 1954, he met and married Marjorie Dawn Smith in 1956, raising six wonderful and loving children. He married Marguerite E. Mink in 1975, a loving and adored second mother to his children until her death in 2001. Bob and Marge were proud owners of "Old Bess," their 1924 Franklin, and they covered countless miles touring the country with the H.H. Franklin Club.

Bob was preceded in death by his daughter, Susanne (Joe) Moscon, and is survived by his son, Chester (Kris) Wittren, stepson Fred (Jenny McGahey) Smith, daughter Melinda (Freeman) Barton, son Kevin Wittren, daughter Patty Siegman, and son Richard (Barbara) Wittren, as well as his sister, Betty Mendes of Junction City, Ore., his brother, Richard Wittren of Cedar Falls; his grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. Private family services are pending.