Chitwood, Harold Delmar "Del", 88, retired Manager of Prospect Systems with Beech Aircraft, died peacefully at home Wednesday morning November 28, 2007.
A Memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2424 Marigold, Wichita, Kansas, on Monday, December 3 at 1:00 p.m.
Del was born March 5, 1919 in Ottawa, Kansas to Tom and Myrtle Lowe Chitwood. He came to Wichita at the age of three, attended Wichita schools and later earned an Aeronautical Engineering Degree from California Curtis Wright Technical Institute.
With a life long passion for aircraft and flying, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1942; was a flight instructor before heading off to the Pacific Theater as a B-29 flight engineer. After the war, he was a structural engineer on the Beech Bonanza program, then a Boeing flight test supervisor on the B-47 and B-52 programs later transitioning to market research. He returned to Beech Aircraft Market research and Prospect Systems for twenty years. He retired in 1985, maintaining his commercial pilots license.
He received the Distinguished Service Award for his work on the Wichita Energy commission, was an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church for over fifty years, a Meals on Wheels volunteer and a member of many professional and civic organizations.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, his sons: Gregory of Wichita; Dr. Phillip (Dr. Beth Handysides) of Evergreen, Colorado; Steve (Jan) of Derby, Kansas, Mike (Rony) of Burbank, California, and daughter, Laura, of Independence, Kansas; five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and his sister, Virginia Hafer, Wichita, Kansas.
A Memorial has been established at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2424 Marigold, Wichita, Kansas 67204 and Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 South Market, Wichita, Kansas 67202.