Ruth May Barrett
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BKS: Copied as it was typed. ( ) denotes where a word has been inserted for clarity. This "Life Story" has been put together from information Oscar Avery Kitterman was born in Vichy Springs, Missouri, on November 22, 1895. His father was a Methodist circuit rider preacher. At a very early age, the family moved to Urbana, Missouri, where they lived until Kit was eight years old. His father died at that time. Kit went to work for a farmer and earned 25 cents a day plowing new ground and doing other chores. After a time his earnings doubled to 50 cents a day. His second job was living with a couple in the country. They were expecting a baby. Kit slept at the foot of their bed in a two-room cabin. He was to be the hero and when the time came he was to go to the nearest phone and call the doctor. The time arrived and Kit was sent out in the middle of the night to make the call but he got lost. His mother moved to Calhoun, Missouri, to run a motel when Kit was about eleven. Kit did any kind of job to bring in some money. For a time he drove a country doctor who had a very fine horse of which Kit was very proud. When Kit was twelve, his mother decided that she must move to some town where good schooling was available. So they moved to Baldwin, Kansas. His first job was out in the country on a farm where he milked sixteen cows each morning and evening. He delivered the milk in town and went to school. He drove a pair of fine horses and was the proudest boy in town. He worked for the farmer for two years. Then his mother became house-mother of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity where he was a big help to his brother in addition to attending high school. Two years later the house burned down and they lost all their belongings. They moved to a cottage and soon Kit was in business. He proudly announced to his mother that he had bought a cow and was going to sell milk. Some time later, he sold the cow and had a boot-black stand down town and later worked in a book store. During his high school days, he was quite active in sports and was a member of a state championship team. After graduating from high school, he decided to take a commercial course at Kansas Wesleyan in Salina, Kansas. After completing the course he went on the road selling the course to new students. He stayed at the YMCA and did some basketball coaching also. It was at this time that Kit first started in Scouting as an Assistant Scoutmaster of a Troop. In late 1917, romance entered Kit's life in the shape of a young lady named Ruth Barrett who was taking a business course at the same school. Things moved along pretty fast and he decided to move his mother to Salina and that he would get married. Kit and Ruth were married on May 25, 1918. The first week of their honeymoon was spent in signing up students in eastern Kansas and the second week was spent in Kansas City where they took in the sights of the big city. Three months after they were married, Kit was drafted into the army and was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas. He was assigned to the Medical Corps and had such good success in handling new recruits that he became drill master. The flu bug struck him down and while he was ill, his unit was shipped out to Europe. When he was well enough to go, the Armistice was signed and soon his unit was sent to Chicago to do hospital service at a receiving center for over-seas wounded. He was mustered out from there in February 1919. Back home in Salina he was ready for a job but there was little chance of finding one. He walked into a real estate office one day and asked if they would let him use a desk and sell real estate on a straight commission basis. At the end of the first month he had done so well that they put him on a salary and commission. He was very active in church work especially with young people. He was elected State Commander of the American Legion which, in 1921, became very active in trying to get the I.W.W.'s (Industrial Workers of the World) out of the state. He gave up his real estate job and started organizing the state. The late Bill Langer, later to become Governor of ND and Senator, was his speaker. At the height of the "battle", a judge at Great Bend, Kansas, was shot and killed. The killer escaped but was later captured (and) on his person was found a "bump off" list and Kit's name was next on the list. Upon his return to private life, the depression hit and he lost a total of $9,500.00 in properties. This was the picture when a YMCA secretary interested him in entering Scouting professionally. Kit went to see the Regional Executive in Kansas City who finished the job of selling the Scouting game. He attended a National Training School which was conducted at Iowa University and then spent a month working under the direction of the Scout Executive at Ardmore, Oklahoma, where he moved with his family in 1923. At the start, Ardmore was a local council but at the end of two and a half years, when he left Ardmore, it was an area council covering several counties. While in Ardmore, Kit's outside activities were the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, and Young Peoples Organizations in the Methodist church. He also taught Red Cross Life Saving and First Aid courses and received a Red Cross medal for serving more than one hundred hours. Another big event was a Covered Wagon trek (the also had several riding horses) for Scouts through the Arbuckle Mountains. PATHE NEWS sent a man to take pictures which were later shown all over the country. In 1925 Kit became Scout Executive at Dallas which was also a local Council. When he left in 1930 it was an area Council composed of ten counties and was named the Circle Ten Council because they encircled Dallas. He also developed a very fine Boy Scout Camp for the Circle Ten Council. He continued to be active in young people's work in the church and was superintendent of the Sunday School. Kit moved to Boston in 1930 during the depression and the Council was heavily in debt. His dream of a training center and Council headquarters was realized with a lovely home on Beacon Street. During World War II, he worked one night a week from midnight to seven A.M. at a secret plane-spotting center. He also became Director of the Boston Savings Bank. In 1933, he moved his family of four boys and his wife to a small town called Sharon, located twenty miles southeast of Boston. There he was superintendent of the Congregational Church for seven years. Kit was chosen to lead the regional contingent from New England to the World Jamboree in Holland in 1937 and had some thrilling experiences. On April 1, 1945 Kit became the Regional Executive of Region 8 which was head quartered in Kansas City. Active in the Broadway Methodist Church, he served as an Elder for several years. Since his responsibilities as Regional Executive covering six states found him traveling a good share of the time (he) was gone too much to take part in local civic activities. On November 30, 1960 at 4:30 P.M. he locked the office door at 2606 Power and Light Building for the last time. He got into his car with Ruth and they drove to a tiny Missouri town called Urich and began a busy life of retirement. Kit was interested in raising a large crop of pecans every year. he had a number of large pecan trees and raised a good many of them. He shared them with his friends. He also raised fancy burros but finally gave up on them. They were a special breed. He continued with his pecans and then he built a new fishing pond which he shared with his friends who greatly enjoyed it. He was very active in the Presbyterian church, serving as an Elder. He was also instrumental in bring about plans for the consolidation of a number of small rural churches. They kept their own but he helped work out a plan whereby some ministers served a number of them. He also worked in other community activities in Urich including the organization of an Explorer Post. In the mid-1960's, Kit decided to sell his property in Urich and move to Harlingen, Texas, where he felt it would be warmer for Ruth. He built a small house there and lived there a couple of years. It was about this time that his son, Doug went overseas with the Ford Motor Company and he wanted Kit and Ruth to move and live in their home in Naples, Florida while Doug was overseas. They did this for about three years, and while in the Naples area be scouted around and found this new retirement village that was being built at Shell Point Village near Fort Myers. Kit was one of the first to buy in, and has been living there ever since. Kit's beloved wife Ruth passed ways in December 1976 after a prolonged illness. We all know how much Kit misses her. Kit is very active in the woodworking shop at Shell Point Village and he and Dick Potter jointly manage the woodworking shop operations for the entire village. He is still making a lot of canes and letter openers which he gives to a lot of people around the village who need them. He is very active in the Church at Shell Point, serving as an usher, and helps with other activities at the Shell Point Village Church and auditorium. He still enjoys his fishing and has his own boat at the marina in the village area. It is a little twelve footer with a six horse power motor. He says that fishing is good but the catching is poor. His countless friends agree that Kit is one of the all-time GREATS of Scouting and has had a tremendous impact for good upon the lives of thousands of boys, laymen and co-professionals throughout his long and distinguished career. Kit's "life story" reads like Horatio Alger and we are happy to share this "biographical sketch" with you. Those of us who have had the privilege of being closely associated
with Kit in some capacity or another have had some of Kit rub
off on us and all for the better. October 26, 1992 |
