Reception: will follow at the Miles City Club in Miles City
John C. Witte, a longtime community banking leader in Montana, died Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003, in Boise, ID. He was 81.
He was born September 20, 1922, in Plaza, ND, the eighth of 11 children of Theodore and Clementine Woiwode Witte. He grew up in rural western North Dakota and graduated from Hebron High School in 1940.
During World War II, he entered the U.S. Navy at age 19 and served with the Fourth Marine Division in the South Pacific. The Division earned the Presidential Unit Citation for combat in taking the islands of Saipan and Tinian from Japanese control in 1944. As a member of the Naval Construction Batallion (Seabees), he helped to build the Tinian airfield which was crucial for subsequent combat operations against Japan.
Returning from the war, he married Clara Ding of Hebron, ND and began working in insurance and local banks serving the agricultural communities of eastern Montana. Over the course of his 50-year banking career, he served as president and board chairman of Traders State Bank in Poplar, Citizens Bank in Scobey, and First Citizens Bank in Miles City, MT. He was a past president of the Montana Independent Bankers Association and a director of the Montana Bankers Association. He served on various banking committees advising the Montana legislature and served for a time as mayor of Poplar. As he rose to prominence in banking circles, he often said he was guided by the following definition of a banker: He is one-fifth accountant, two-fifths lawyer, three-fifths economist, four-fifths gentlemen, scholar and advisor. Ten fifths double strength. Any-thing less may be a pawnbroker, or a promoter, but not a banker.
His community was important to him wherever he lived. He was involved in many civic activities, and as a white hat banker he lobbied for agriculture, business, economic opportunity, and rural eastern Montana interests before federal agencies, Congress, the Montana legislature and local governments. While in Poplar, he was an early supporter and backer of tribal economic development successes on the Fort Peck Reservation.
During his Miles City years, he and Clara lived on a ranch outside town where they raised sheep, horses and hay. A collector of vintage horse-drawn wagons, carriages and sleighs, Mr. Witte helped to organize an annual wagon train trek across eastern Montana with fellow ranchers and community leaders.
Clara died in 1991. Mr. Witte retired to Boise in 1993 and was fortunate to make the acquaintance there of Toni Cary and her family. For the past year he resided at the Valley View retirement community in Boise, where he enjoyed the friendship of residents and a caring staff.
He was a friend to many and truly enjoyed people. He was especially proud of his three college-educated children and often remarked that he was fortunate to have a doctor, a lawyer, and a nurse among his children.
He is survived by daughter Mary Arner, her husband Gene and their children Nicholas and Katherine of Felton, CA; daughter Susan Witte, her husband Cary Lund and their children Anna and Derek of Helena, MT; a son Dr. John T. Witte, his wife Melody and their sons Matthew, Sam and Luke of Boise; a brother, James Witte of Des Moines, IA; and three sisters, Sister Muriel Witte of St. Francis, SD, Sister Monica Witte of Pine Ridge, SD, and Marian Sorenson of Bismarck, ND.
Graveside Services will be held on Saturday, July 10, 2004 at 11:00 am at the Custer County Cemetery in Miles City. A reception will follow at the Miles City Club in Miles City. To send condolences to the family, please visit: www.stevensonandsons.com Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home of Miles City has been entrusted with the local arrangements
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