Loss of a Friend hurts

Odessa, WA

Today, we recieved a phone call that we all dread at some point in our lives; but always get. The notification of a friends death. In this case, the friend was someone who I worked with for many years at Boeing and who I admired and respected and was proud to call him my friend. Roger Witt was "MR TRAFFIC" as far as I was concerned at Boeing. When I was first given the duty of "Traffic person" at Boeing Mojave Test Center at Edwards AFB, CA I had no idea what to do. TRAFFIC? Isn't that something on the freeway? No, it is the coordination and movement of freight and goods in and out of the company. Hmmm...now what? There was only one name I knew, ROGER WITT. So I called Roger (I had never met him) and got my first "traffic" lesson over the phone. Roger was the one I called when I had no clue what to do and he was always so gracious and kind and helped me through whatever problem I was trying to solve. If Roger wasn't available, Gary Bell and Bob Barstad were always very helpful and willing to assist me as well...if I hadn't had one of these three on the other end of the phone I would have been in deep trouble!

Fast Forward a few years and I find myself in Seattle and I am working with Roger Witt in the outbound traffic office for the Military side of Boeing. I learned so much there with Roger, and Gary and Bob again. Pretty soon Roger is promoted to manager and I am working for him. He was always kind and considerate and always willing to help. Next thing I know, I am promoted to manager and Roger and I are once more working together. I still relied on Roger's knowledge and sound advise.

When I retired from Boeing, Roger was still working and enjoying himself. He retired shortly after I did, and like all good intentions of "getting together" we didn't. I regret that. Roger and his wife Arleen came to our 25th anniversary party last year and we had a chance to catch up. We were both delighted that they came and we enjoyed our visit with them. We invited them to Tucson and Roger assured us they would try. However, poor health on his part intervened and they never made it.

Today the call came that Roger had died....we lost a friend and we will miss him tremendously. Rest in peace my friend.