Carl Stanley Pitts

Carl Stanley Pitts Longview, TX – Carl Stanley Pitts, 70, died Sunday, September 1st 2013, in his home in Longview following a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held at Rader Funeral Home Chapel in Longview, Texas, at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, September 7. Interment will follow in Rosewood Park in Longview. Born May 31st in Washington, D.C., to Edith Evangeline and Jefferson Douglas Pitts, Mr. Pitts' life was a miracle from the beginning. He weighed 2lbs 2 oz. when he was born and was never expected to survive long enough to leave the hospital. His odds-defying life was characterized by an unfailing and unflagging willingness to befriend and serve all whom he met. He grew up in Fairfax Station, Virginia, where he attended Fairview Elementary School. His best friend in the second grade, Bobby Johnson, remained his close friend throughout his life. As a child, he developed a profound attachment to Caterpillar bulldozers, John Deere tractors, and red fire engines. Later in life he would reproduce the toy bulldozers he made for himself as a child for his grandchildren. He joined the Navy as a young man and was a plankowner of the USS Guadalcanal LPH-7. He was part of the crew that retrieved and welcomed aboard astronauts John W. Young and Michael Collins of Gemini X after their splashdown near the Bermuda Triangle in 1966. He met his bride-to-be while in the Navy and married Judy Hatley in May of 1967. Following his service in the Navy, Mr. Pitts joined Montgomery County Maryland Fire Department, retiring in 1988 after a career spent in the service of others. With a remarkable memory for detail, he not only knew every road in Montgomery County, it is rumored that he knew almost every person in his native Fairfax County. He is survived by his wife, Judith Judy Carol Pitts, and three siblings: Betty Lorraine Weatherholtz of New Market, Virginia; Carroll Dean Pitts of Manassas, Virginia; and Gerald D. Pitts of New Market, Virginia. His two sons, Timothy Pitts of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Brian Pitts of Longview, Texas, and seven grandchildren also survive him. His life was one of service and friendship to all.

Carl Stanley Pitts

May 31, 1943 - September 1, 2013