Harold Fitch

Memorial services will be held for The Reverend Harold E. Fitch, 93, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Bella Vista. He was the third son born in Wayne, Neb., on July 25, 1921, to Don J. and Leona (Smith) Fitch and died peacefully at Highlands Healthcare in Bella Vista, Ark., on Dec. 25, 2014. He attended Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., where he lettered in basketball and football and met Tibbie (Leila May Dewey) who became his wife on June 10, 1944, at the Naval Air Station Chapel in Memphis, Tenn. They enjoyed 66 years together before Tibbie died in 2012. Harold served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and returned to Wayne State to graduate in 1946 with an industrial arts major. He had a variety of sales careers before entering the Methodist ministry in 1957 in Lakewood, Colo. He graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., and was ordained in 1962. His ministry took him from Colorado to Mason City, Iowa, and finally to South Dakota where he served United Methodist churches in Scotland, Flandreau, Egan, Sioux Falls (where he also served as chaplain at the SD State Penitentiary), Sturgis and Watertown before retiring to Bella Vista in 1987. Harold and Tibbie were active members of First United Methodist Church of Bella Vista. For many years after retiring, they were involved in mission work for several months each year with an ecumenical group called SOWERS and with Habitat for Humanity. Until last spring, Harold volunteered three days a week at Helping Hands in Bentonville. Harold touched many lives and was much loved by his family and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife Tibbie; two sons, Don D. Fitch and Hal E. Fitch; his parents and two brothers, Delmer D. and Ivan W. Fitch. He is survived by daughters, Jean Justice (John), Bella Vista, and Kim Budd (Paul), Sugar Creek, Mo.; one son, Van H. Fitch, Virginia, Minn.; a sister, Bonnie Echols (Bill), Lynnwood, Wash.; sister-in-law, Betty (Don) Heitman, Coleridge, Neb.; brother-in-law, Harold Sizemore, Omaha, Neb.; daughters-in-law, Sandra Fitch, Bella Vista, and Sue Weast, Hiawatha, Kan.; 11 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. Harold's family extends deep gratitude to the staff at Highlands Healthcare and Circle of Life Hospice for their loving care. Cremains will be interred at the Bella Vista Cemetery with Epting Funeral Home of Bella Vista handling arrangements. Memorial gifts may be made to the Mission Program at First United Methodist Church, 20 Boyce Drive, Bella Vista, AR 72715; Helping Hands, Inc., 320 Airport Road, Bentonville, AR 72712; Habitat for Humanity of Benton County, 1212 N. Walton Blvd., Bentonville, 72712; or Circle of Life Hospice, 901 Jones Road, Springdale, AR 72762.