Hilton H. Witters Obituary (1929

Hilton Harry Witters passed away April 1, 2016 at the age of 86 in his Chehalis home with his daughter Pat and son-in-law Mike Edwards by his side, ending a long battle with parkinson's disease and cancer. He is preceded in death by his parents Harry Elmer Witters and Elizabeth Era Gould Witters, his wife Myrlene D. Witters, two sisters Mildred and Ruth, four brothers Donald, John, Harold, and Duane and one daughter De Anna E. Morton. Hilton is survived by one son Robert Svatonsky; Monroe, NC, and four daughters Carolyn Svatonsky; Kennewick, Kathy Freeman; Kennewick, Fran Allen; Rochester and Pat Edwards and son-in-law Mike; Chehalis, two brothers Bob and Roger Witters, nephew John and 3 nieces Mary, Beth and Tanya. Hilton had 16 grandchildren: Patty Looman, Charlotte White, Raechal Frey, Sandy Winnestorfer, Melissa Dugger, Rick Morton, Lisa Lopez, Paul Winnestorfer, Jill Allen, Stacey Martin, Ryan Allen, Ronda Issel, Sherrie Burton, Ronald Morton, Katheryn Chambers, and Michelle Iverson. He also had 33 great grandchildren and 7great great grandchildren. Hilton H. Witters, the youngest of nine children, was born June 20, 1929 in Sydney, Nebraska. He helped his father on the farm in Nebraska until 1947 when he moved to Washington state with his parents and older brothers. He married Myrlene Dehnhoff July 21, 1962 acquiring a family of 6 children. Hilton worked for many years at the Seattle Water Department as a gage operator until retiring from that career in 1968 to go into management. Hilton and Myrlene managed gas stations, mobil home parks and mini storage facilities. They were a good team. Hilton took care of maintenance and repairs while Myrlene kept the books. Hilton retired from management in 1998 when he became widowed. He resided in Centralia until 2008, then moved to Chehalis. Hilton enjoyed playing board games and watching Jepardy and Wheel of Fortune. He is remembered for his beautiful flower gardens, especially his glads. He was very involved in his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren's lives; going on outings, vacations, sports events and getting together for the holidays. He saw many of his grandchildren and great grandchildren very often. He was even recently a part of a five generation photo with his youngest great great grandson. He made annual trips to visit the grandchildren in Eastern Oregon and going for visits and reunions to see his brother Roger and family. Hilton remained active and independent; cleaning and maintaining his own apartment and driving his car until the last three months when his two daughters Fran and Pat and son-in-law Mike shared in his care as his health declined. Hilton touched a lot of lives in the role of son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather. He was loved abundantly and will be missed enormously.