Wamon H. Pittman

A

long time resident of the Warden area, WH (Pitt) Pittman, passed

away December 29, 2010 at the age of 91. Graveside services will be

held at 10 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011 at Sunset Memorial Gardens

in Warden with memorial services following at 11 a.m. at Warden

First Baptist Church. Please leave a note for the family at

www.kayserschapel.com Arrangements are in care of Kayser’s Chapel

& Crematory, Moses Lake.

He

was born May 30, 1919 to Amcy E. and Grace Anna Pittman in Gray,

Oklahoma. He attended school in Perryton, Texas graduating in 1937.

He excelled at football and tennis, but his true love was

basketball. He proudly held the Perryton basketball record for the

most points scored during the junior and senior years. He attended

Panhandle A & M at Goodwell, OK before transferring to Oklahoma

State University in Stillwater, graduating in June 1941 with a BS

degree in agronomy.

After graduating from college he joined the US Marine Corp, and was

called to active duty following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was

stationed in the Samoan Islands and revered the Samoan people for

their physical abilities, thankful he never had to face one on the

football field. During an amphibious assault on Eniwetok, Wamon was

listed as missing in action and falsely assumed dead from a small

piece of shrapnel embedded in his chest a quarter inch from his

heart that was never removed. He was awarded a purple heart and

restationed to San Diego. On June, 22, 1944 he married his college

sweetheart, Lahoma Cayton, in La Jolla, California.

Wamon was discharged from the Marines in December of 1945 with the

rank of Captain. He and Lahoma returned to the Perryton/Pampa area

in the panhandle of Texas where he took a job working for the Soil

Conservation Service. During that time two sons, Howard and Lynn,

were born. In 1949 he was transferred to Seligman, Missouri, where

he bought his first farm. In 1956 the family moved to Balko in the

Oklahoma panhandle to farm closer to family and friends.

In

the summer of 1962 the family took a vacation to the Northwest to

see the Seattle World’s fair. During that trip, Wamon fell in love

with the Columbia Basin and eventually moved his family to the

Warden area in the summer of 1964. He farmed in the Warden area

until his retirement, and continued to live on the family farm with

Lahoma until his recent illness.

Wamon enjoyed time with his grandchildren helping to teach them to

read, and passing on his love for sports. His gardens overflowed

with more tomatoes than he could give to family and friends. The

members of the Warden Senior Center knew they had to be on their A

game to beat him in pool, and the pinochle game was never over if

Pitt was in range to “shoot the moon”.

Wamon is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Lahoma, sons

Howard (Wilma) Pittman and Lynn (Norma) Pittman, all in the Warden

area and grandchildren Stefanie (Mike) Lowry of Moses Lake, Megan

(Chris) Jevne of Pasco, Emmet (Nicki) Pittman of High Point, NC,

Andrew Pittman of Ellensburg, and Jonathan Pittman of Richland and

five great grandchildren.