Rev. Louis Allon Aitken 1923 - 2014
AITKEN, NEWTON, DAGGER, MILLER
Posted By: Connie J Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/7/2014 at 21:50:54
Sioux City Journal
26 September 2014CASTANA, Iowa | The Rev. Louis A. Aitken, 91, of Castana died Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, at Maple Heights Nursing Home in Mapleton, Iowa.
Services will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Mapleton, with the Rev. Jena Manchester officiating. Burial will be in Grant Township Cemetery, rural Rodney, Iowa, with military rites provided by the American Legion Wesley Seaton Post 666 of Smithland, Iowa. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, with a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.
Louis Allon Aitken, second child of Thomas Lambie and Emma (Newton) Aitken, was born on June 5, 1923, at Dun Glen, Ohio. He moved with his family at the age of two weeks to Colver, Pa., where he spent his early years. He attended elementary school in Colver, and completed high school at Ebensburg-Canbria High School in June 1941. He worked as a machinist apprentice for Piper Aircraft, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and the Ebensburg Coal Company until enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in July 1942. He was a mechanic for the Air Corps on Norden Bombsight and electronic automatic pilot on B-17 and B-29 aircraft, receiving his honorable discharge on Jan. 3, 1946. His overseas service was on Tinian in the Marianas Islands of the western Pacific.
After World War II he worked for Carbide and Carbon Chemicals as an instrument mechanic at South Charleston, W.Va. He attended Morris Harvey College in West Virginia, and graduated from Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1951, magna cum laude, going on to graduate from Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C., in June 1955.
He married Elda Lerene Dagger in Aurelia, Iowa, on May 18, 1944, and they raised three children, Marsha, Linda, and Mark.
Following a divorce, he married Norma Kay Miller in Ticonic, Iowa, on April 25, 1981.
He was licensed to preach by the Charleston District, West Virginia Conference on April 22, 1948, and served the Methodist Church in Charleston, W.Va., Larrabee, Iowa, Durham, Manteo, Ayden, and Oxford, N.C., and Rowen, Greeley-Delhi, and Mapleton-Ticonic, Iowa. He retired on June 5, 1983, after almost 35 years in the ministry.
After retirement, Mr. Aitken continued to serve the churches of the area as financial consultant for capital funds, directing fund drives in Elk Point, S.D., Sergeant Bluff, Humboldt, Woodward, Iowa, and at Wesley UMC in Sioux City. He was the catalyst in the planning and construction of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Mapleton, where he was a member.
Also in retirement, "Lou", as friends and family called him, avidly pursued several hobbies including model railroading and knife making. His knives ended up in five countries and at least 28 states. He also enjoyed playing dobro guitar and harmonica and sang with Monona Country, a band known for bluegrass and country music.
Lou was a lifelong hunter, fisherman and outdoors man.
He is survived by his wife, Norma Aitken of Ticonic, Iowa; his sister, Elaine Ruffner of California; his three children, Marsha Aitken of New Mexico, Linda Mihel and her husband, Bob of Illinois, and Mark Aitken of Virginia; two grandchildren, Whitney and Michael Mihel; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Rev. Aitken was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Ruth Gearing and Grace Bearcheil; and two brothers, Merl and Paul Wesley Aitken.
The family would like to express gratitude to Mr. Homer DeWitt for his care and support to Lou in this last difficult year.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Ducks Unlimited or Pheasants Forever.
Monona Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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