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. 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.

Wamon H. Pittman

May 30, 1919 - December 29, 2010