Arthur L. Pitts Obituary (1930 - 2020)

Arthur L. Pitts, 89, of Toluca, IL passed away at 11:50 p.m. Sunday, April 5, 2020 at Evenglow Inn, Pontiac, IL. Private family services will be Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery in Toluca with Rev. Nathan Johnson officiating. Military rites will follow at the cemetery. Calvert-Johnson & Froelich Memorial home, Toluca is assisting the family with arrangements. Memorials may be made to the Greater Peoria Honor Flight or to St. John's Lutheran Church, Toluca. He was born November 11, 1930 in Chicago, IL the son of LeRoy and Hattie Gritton Pitts. He married his childhood friend and eventually sweetheart Gloria Kaye Maack on December 4, 1955 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Toluca. They started their life together in Chicago but, from June 1958 on Toluca was their home. Kaye died March 31, 2010. Surviving are two children DiAnn (Larry) Kuehn of Lacon and Jeannie (Ron) Minnaert of Pontiac; a daughter-in-law Sandy (Bill) Luning of Wenona; six grandchildren Kenny (Tatia) Kuehn, Brittney (Ryan) Leech, Tyler Kuehn, Kymberlee (Brett) McKinley, Kale (Jodi) Minnaert and A.J. Mobley-Pitts; and 9 great-grandchildren Charlotte Kuehn, Cassidy & Kai Leech, Hank & Lucy McKinley, Scout & Remle Minnaert, Connor & Dylan Mobley, with number 10 Baby Minnaert coming in July. He was preceded by his parents, one sister Audrey Sinicki and one son Joseph.Art started his strong work ethics at the young age of 12 with a paper route that led to him having his own paper stand in Chicago. As a teen he worked as a gas station attendant. From 1946-1950 he worked for Illinois Central Railroad. Art was a 1948 graduate of Chicago Vocational School. In 1950, he enlisted in the US Air Force. He was a technical instructor at Chanute Air Force Base from 1951 - 1953. He then entered flight engineering training, graduating in 1954, promoted to staff sergeant and assigned to the 420th air refueling squadron as a flight engineer in Alexandra, LA. They were the first refueling squadron in the tactical air command, refueling F-84F Fighters. He was honorably discharged in 1955. He went back to Chicago and was hired by Ford Motor aircraft engine division as a research technician in the test cell engineering department and then moved to the field service department at the Boeing plant in Wichita, KS where they were making the B-52 Bomber. 1958, he moved to Toluca and started working at the BFG Chemical plant in Henry where he retired in December of 1992. He then returned to the plant and worked as a contract employee there for another 6 years for various expansions and process upgrading. Art was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Toluca where he served on the board and was Chairman of the Parish Hall building committee. He was a Boy Scout Cubmaster, a member of the Toluca American Legion, and the Marshall County 911 emergency telephone board. He served as chairman of the Lake Wildwood common properties committee and was on the Toluca Park Board for two terms. He was a volunteer on the Toluca Ambulance from 1982 to 1990 and then from 1993 until 2012. Art became an ordained minister and performed 2 weddings one for his granddaughter and the other for his Air Force buddy's granddaughter. In his retirement he could be found at his favorite coffee hangout Miller's Hardware Store. The last 20 months of his life he was a resident at Evenglow Health Center in Pontiac. The family would like to express their thanks to the loving staff that helped to make his last years comfortable. Art loved to volunteer, travel, work on cars, and NASCAR. His world revolved around his family. He followed his children, grandchildren, and then great-grandchildren's involvement in sports, school activities and was an adopted grandpa to many others. He loved them all. Online condolences and obituary can be viewed at www.calvertmemorial.com