This memorial website was created in the memory of our loved one, Robert Wittich, 68, born on December 16, 1944 and passed away on July 10, 2013. We will remember him forever.
Tributes
Leave a tributeLaura and Bob
Still miss hearing your voice and wisdom.
Love
Rich
We had shared quite a few years working together and I still find myself wishing I could drop into your office, flop in a chair to shoot the bull.
I miss the the perspective and unique insight you brought to our discussions.
Not the same since those then and I miss you every day.
Hard to believe it has been 10 years. Nothing is the same without you in our lives.
Love
Rich
Laura & Bob
It was 10 long years ago that you left us. Honestly, it has been the most difficult 10 years of my life. I miss you desperately and really could have used your help, humor, companionship, and love. I will love you forever.
Rita
Laura & Bob
Jim
You and Mike have a new responsibility. Therese is with you now. Please take good care of her. We are heartbroken.
Jim
Here we are nine years later, and I am still missing you all the time. I still talk to you and ask for advice and complain about things. One of the things I miss the most is your laugh. I know your laugh would have gotten Bobby and I through some of the rough times a little more easily. But you would be sooo very proud of him. He finally got his transplant after so many years and he has been handling it so very well. He is a real trooper. I think of you all the time. I love you and I always will.
Laura & Bob
Thinking about you today and every day.
Sure do miss you.
Love you
Rich
Happy, happy Birthday. I love you and miss you all the time.
Love Forever
Rita
Love you,
Jim
Love Laura and Bob
Love,
Wes
Still wish you were with us. Always could depend on you for your wisdom.
Love and miss you.
Rich
Think of you often, nearly every day, and wish I could have a chance to talk to you just one more time. It would have to be a lo-o-o-n-g conversation if you wanted an update o your favotire topic, politics. Miss you.
Your Bro,
Jim
Dear Bob,
Happy Birthday. Wish we could have a nice quiet dinner to celebrate. Miss you all the time
Love
Rita
Another year passes and I still want to pick up the phone to wish you a Happy Brithday; and, of course, meet for a beer and a Jim-Bob Burger at the old Main Street cafe. Miss you Bro.
Jim
Therese
Laura & Bob Bartels
Love and miss you.
Rich
Have not posted in a while. Some times I just cannot collect my thoughts enough to say how much I miss you.
You are in my thoughs every day.
Love Jim.
Love you
Rich
Today is Mother's Day, A bitter sweet day for you and I. Seven years ago(hard to believe it has been that long) you woke up with no voice. That was the beginning of us learning what was happening to you. So sorry you had to go through that whole journey. I love you and miss you
Rita
Dear Bob,
Happy Birthday. I miss being able to celebrate your birthday. We always had a good time and laughed and loved. Now I just miss you even more--if that is possible. You would have been 75 years old today--a milestone. Your birthday is also an anniversary for Bobby, since today he has been on the kidney transplant list for four years. I wish that you could be here to help Bobby and I along this path. I will love you forever.
On your birthday and always, we forever remember all our wonderful times together and different little Wittichisms that make us laugh!
Love
Laura & Bob
Leave a Tribute
ProCall@aol.com
"Good morning Robert. At last spring has arrived with a flourish of colour and freshness after a long, wet, Wagga Wagga winter. This e-mail is being sent from home instead of my office as I have finally retired. Yes, I know it's about time you say! This mornings news has the European economy improving, at least the northern part, and China too. Our All Ord's is nearing 5,200 - a five year high - and there is a lot more green than red on my watch list. Our Reserve bank meets today but the expectation is that our benchmark rate will stay at 2.50% especially given we go to the polls on Saturday to rid ourselves of Kevin Rudd. With a new government and renewed consumer confidence it is hoped, especially from a retiree's perspective, that further rate cuts will not be necessary. I see that my beloved METS failed to sweep the Nat's as they struggle to finish the year on a positive note. Let me know what you think about your mate's decision to 'flick the ball' to congress re Syria? I had better go. I think Hezz has jobs lined up for me. Retirement! Yea! Give my love to Rita and Bobby."
Sadly, I know I will not get a response from my mate. But if I did, it would have been prompt, insightful, warm and witty. Since our return to Oz in 1986, Bob was the 'penfriend' I never had as a youngster. I greatly miss this contact.
In some ways, Bob was the 'big' brother I never had. I 'looked up' to him; enjoyed his missives; his trips to Oz; his interaction with my adult children and my grandchildren; his beautiful reflection of my only son, Peter; his pronunciation of 'gidday mate'; his dismissal of a handshake for a bear hug; sharing a cold beer whether it be a VB or a Bud; his choice of Italian restaurants; his Spanish; and his overwhelming generosity. I admit to not enjoying (the next morning) our sharing of a bottle of JD and a cigar.
Bob you are and will remain a good mate.
Bob in the 1950s
For those of you who only knew Bob as an adult you would easily recognize him as a youth. Bob was a happy and confident boy, and if he wasn’t outright leading an activity, he was always involved in the leadership. Summertime was the best. I remember endless games of punchball, stickball, stoopball, skelzies, “Johnny on the pony”, ringolevio, and kick the can. Bob always made sure I was included. Of course, the touch football games in City Park were classic, as were the two full tackle football games he set up between the boys from St. James and St. Augustine in Memorial Park. Most of us only had helmets and the hits were brutal, but so much fun.
I distinctly remember the happiness of being rewarded by Bob with an ice-cold Hires root beer after helping him with his extensive paper route one hot summer afternoon, and the excitement as he introduced me to his hideout in a subway tunnel which we accessed by scaling the granite abutment of the Manhattan Bridge on the corner of Sand and Jay streets and squeezing through some pulled back fencing under the walkway. Bob was adventurous and courageous. He was everything you wanted in a big brother
Submitted for Andrew Hirschhorn
With the image of his smirk accompanied by a laugh frozen in my memory, it’s hard to imagine that this same person could be so intimidating to me as a child. “Mr. Wittich” was that big scary guy… you know that one adult you remember as a kid that for some reason instilled you with a certain fear. But I’ll never forget the time when the big scary guy delivered one of the all-time classic lines to end the Little League baseball game for the ages.
With seven different pitchers, a marathon of walks, and darkness threatening to end a game that lasted so long nobody knew which team was winning; Geoff Berman threw the infamous pitch that would turn a semi-comatose crowd into frenzy. In an instant, umpire Bob Wittich was given the not so good fortune of being at the center of the biggest controversy in the history of the Larchmont Little League. Long story short, the pitch bounced before it reached home plate and the batter somehow managed to make contact and get a hit, seemingly defying the laws of physics. Nobody had ever seen this before… a pitch being hit on a bounce. Is it live? Should the kid run to first base? Is it a do over? Faster than you can grab your cell phone, the familiar roar when someone gets a hit was heard throughout and what ensued was a 10-minute display of everything that is wrong with youth sports… parents on the field screaming at each other, fingers pointing. There was yelling, shouting, flailing arms, altercation, and total pandemonium… all while innocent nine-years-olds stood dumfounded. Soon order was restored and the game ended prematurely on account of general ridiculousness.
During the proverbial insincere hand shake, the once silent Little Leaguers began to argue with one another while exhausted emotionless parents methodically began packing up for the night. “No, we won,” said one child. “No we did, it was 8 to 7,” said another. “No it was 7 to 6, we won,” added a third child. As the volume of voices escalated with more kids from each team joining the debate, a new altercation began to emerge. It was then that a stern, commanding, loud voice came over the Little Leaguers from the big scary Mr. Wittich that silenced all. “Hey stop that right now… you guys are old enough to know not to act like your parents!” A line that cut the tension completely and belongs in the Henny Youngman Hall of Fame. I can still hear the laughs from all the adults in the background. Mr. Wittich, your sense of humor will be missed!
--Andrew Hirschhorn