Robert Woodrow Pitts
Robert Woodrow Pitts
Robert Woodrow Pitts was a
great man with a great heart. He spent his life in service to God and country,
and on May 6, 2012, he went home to be with his Savior. He was 93.
Robert was born in Oakwood,
Mo., in 1918, the youngest of four children. He graduated from high school in Oakland,
Calif., where his father worked as a baker and the family attended the East
Oakland Church of the Nazarene. There Robert met a young woman named Pauline,
and when he went to call on her one day, discovered that she had a younger
sister. Charline was beautiful, Robert fell in love, and they were married July
6, 1940. He was 22 and she was 16. Their love lasted a lifetime.
In 72 years of marriage,
Robert and Charline were rarely apart. But World War II gave them little
choice, and Robert joined the Army in October 1943, as a soldier in the Second
Infantry Indianhead Division, Ninth Infantry Regiment Manchu Warriors. He
served in several theaters across Europe, as an infantryman, a radio operator
and in the military police. Robert didn’t speak much about the war until later
in life, but he took great pride in serving his country. An interview with
Robert remains in the Library of Congress archive, part of a series documenting
the memories of American WWII veterans.
One particular night he spent
as a soldier would change many, many lives. Robert was reading the Bible in his
foxhole on Sept. 15, 1944, when he felt a promise from God: He would survive
the war, he would come home to his family, and he would serve in ministry. The page from the Bible he was reading that
day – Psalm 119:17-18 – is framed and hangs on the wall in the family home.
And the promise was kept.
Robert received his honorable discharge on Oct. 7, 1945, and enrolled at
Pasadena Nazarene College in Pasadena, Calif. He finished his education at
Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tenn., and entered the ministry in
1948.
Robert and Charline pastored churches in
California, Idaho, Missouri and Kansas, where they were deeply loved by the
people they served.
As they pastored, Robert and
Charline raised three sons who not only carry on their father’s name, but reflect
the way he lived through ministry, music and craftsmanship. David, Michael and
Mark remember their dad always making time for family. While in California, the
household grew to include Dave Brown, the son of a member of their congregation
who had taken ill. Though his sons are grown and have children of their own,
they continue to look to their Dad, or “Daddy” as he is sometimes still called,
as the example of how a father ought to be.
The family didn’t always have
many material possessions, but Robert would tell you there are better things in
life than what the world provides. At 93, reflecting back on his long life of
service, Robert said: “The most meaningful thing I have done in my life was to
accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior.” He asked only for strength, a
manual typewriter and the chance to share his faith, and he touched countless
lives through prayer and the sermons he wrote.
Years later, after trading in
his manual typewriter for an electric, he would sit down to remember his
wartime experience in a memoir for the family’s future generations. Robert and
Charline were blessed with many nieces and nephews, eight grandchildren, 13
great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. All have their own memories
of baseball games with Grandpa in Kansas City, buying worms on the way to fish
the Payette River, or their turn on Papa’s lap for the annual reading of the
Christmas story.
Robert and Charline retired
to Nampa, Id., in 1986, giving him more time to fish, grow tomatoes, and read
books by Louis L’Amour. But his retirement from the profession was not a
retirement from ministry; if Robert saw a need, he said “yes.” He continued to
serve the Lord as an associate pastor at Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene
in Meridian, Id., and chaplain at Sunny Ridge Retirement Center in Nampa. He
visited the sick and elderly, and into his 80s was interim pastor for congregations
across the Intermountain District of the Church of the Nazarene.
Robert never stopped loving
everyone around him. But here on Earth, his heart belonged to his faithful
wife, Charline. She is gentle, she is quiet, but she is strong, and she stood
with him in all things. Robert spent his final days resting peacefully at home,
beneath a photo of himself as a young, strong man, next to Charline and
surrounded by the people he loved.
In lieu of flowers, donations
may be made to the Robert & Charline Pitts Ministerial Scholarship at
Northwest Nazarene University, a scholarship established by Robert's nephew,
Frank Robinson.
A
private committal service will be held at the Idaho State Veterans
Cemetery. A celebration of life service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on
Friday, May 11, 2012 at First Church of the Nazarene in Nampa, ID.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Robert Woodrow Pitts, please visit our flower store.
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