James Herman Witt, of Owensboro passed away on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at his home at the age of 97. He was born January 14, 1923 in Los Angeles, CA to the late August and Lydia Witt. Jim was a U.S. Army Air Force veteran where he served as a Combat Navigator Officer in World War II. He was a graduate of Washington State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering where he was #1 on their varsity college tennis team. Jim was the Project Engineer at General Electric for 25 years.
He was the Men’s Tennis Champion of Owensboro in 1951 and city champion golfer. Jim was a charter member of Windridge Country Club. He loved playing golf and teaching bridge and was a certified tournament director and Life Master since 1967. Jim founded and operated Wittcraft Lettering, a printing business for 10 years downtown. He served as Junior Achievement advisor and was a RiverPark Center volunteer.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, animal rights activist Nisa N. Witt in 1979 and grandson James “Jamie” Terry Witt.
He is survived by his wife, JoAnn Witt; children, Dr. Terry James Witt (Caryl) of Bradenton, FL, Crystal Witt Swope (Robert), Roxana Gail (Roxi) Witt; stepson, Burrell H. “Skip” Shaw (April) of Granville, OH; grandchildren, Marisa Swope Needels (Tom) of Mt. Juliet, TN, Melanie Swope Jordan (Jason) of Mt. Juliet, TN, Heather Witt Brown (Dave) Westminster, CO, Cresta Witt Stewart (Alan) of Chapin, SC, and Autumn Witt Boyd (Dave) of Chattanooga, TN; step-grandchildren, Ethan Howard Shaw, Sophia Elizabeth Shaw and William Coulter Shaw of Granville, OH, Troy Ploger (Nicole) of St. Petersburg, FL and Ryan Ploger (Nancy) of Bradenton, FL; and 14 great-grandchildren.
Private burial will be in Field of Honor at Owensboro Memorial Gardens. James H. Davis Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to the Owensboro/Daviess County Humane Society or the RiverPark Center.