Obituary of Carroll Bryan Pitman Jr.

Carroll Bryan Pitman Jr. was born June 29, 1929 in Henrietta Oklahoma. He was the eldest of two children of Carroll and Frankie Pitman. He was born during the American great depression. Jobs were very scarce and the family moved several times. One time they camped along the river while his dad drove a Cat. and helped with the building of new roads. He and his sister Sarah Diana attended Indian School in Lawrence,Kansas during the summer. He was first chair violinist in high School. At age 17 he joined the Navy. His mother had to sign for him to enlist. During his naval career he was a machine Gunner and operated the ship store. He served on many different ships, but spent most time on the USS McKinley. He had many exotic ports in the South Pacific, including Singapore, and North Korea. He also was involved with the government nuclear experiments at Atoll Island where they would board ships that had under gone nuclear testing. After 10 years naval service, transferred to the Air Force. In 1949 Carroll met and married the love of his life Joan May Hanson. He and his wife had 8 children. 5 boys and 3 girls. Carroll spent 14 years in the Air Force. During his Air Force career, his duties included supply and purchasing. His final duty station was Washington DC where he was purchaser for Air Force One. He had direct phone line to the Captain of Air Force One. He served under LBJ and Nixon. His total military service was over 24 years. Carroll retired in 1970 to Linda California to be near to his wife’s family after his wife was diagnosed with a terminal illness, emphysema. The town of Linda is a small farming community north of Sacramento. His first post military job was quality control for a mobile home manufacturer. He also attended college at night. He was able to attain a Civil Service job, where he became the manager of military temporary lodging. He was awarded the National Innkeepers Award for the Air Force. In 1984, his wife of 35 years passed away. Then 2 years later his youngest daughter was killed in a tragic automobile accident. Not long after that he completely retired. He has since lost 3 sons and another daughter. He loves family get togethers where there can be anywhere from 5 to 25. Everyone is welcome and feels part of the family. He currently resides in Linda, where he enjoys gardening. He especially loves flowers.