Memorial services for William Mitchell Pitts, 86, of Indianola will be at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at First United Methodist Church, Indianola. He died Saturday, August 22, 2015 at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Boone-Card Funeral Home, Indianola.
Mr. Pitts was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mitchell Pitts of Indianola. He graduated from Indianola High School in 1946 and graduated from Mississippi State University in 1950 as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserves with a Bachelor of Science Degree in General Agriculture. Mr. Pitts served two tours in the Korean War primarily stationed in Tokyo, Japan. He returned to Indianola in November of 1952.
Mr. Pitts farmed a variety of crops in the Mississippi Delta for over 50 years and was active in the Republican party, Indianola Rotary Club, served as Indianola Chamber of Commerce President in 1974, and was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church. Mr. Pitts served as a Director of Planters Bank from 1968-2004 and as a Director of Planters Holding Company from 1981-2004. He was also very passionate about jogging, canoeing, bicycling, and Mississippi State University athletics throughout his lifetime.
Mr. Pitts was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Indianola Academy in 1965. In 1970, when the American Legion acquired the current Indianola Academy football field, Mr. Pitts led many members of the local community to transform the field from the most poorly maintained football field in the North AAA Conference to the best football field arguably in the State of Mississippi. Mr. Pitts and his volunteer team tilled the entire football field pulling out loads of rocks and debris, researched the perfect grass type for the field, and received numerous donations from local farmers for the irrigation and mowing equipment needed to create the football field for generations of Indianola Academy students to enjoy. Mr. Pitts, along with his wife, was honored with the Indianola Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Mr. Pitts was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Mary Mack Coursey Pitts. He is survived by one sister, Mary Anne Pitts Allen; three sons, Thomas Mitchell PItts II (Kay), Walter Coursey Pitts, and William Mitchell Pitts, Jr. (Missy) of Indianola; two daughters, Gay Pitts Galbreath (Joe) of Cordova, TN, and Mary Pitts Huffstetler (Jim) of Macon, GA; four grandsons, Thomas Mitchell Pitts III, William Mitchell Pitts III, William David Huffstetler and Mac Thomas Huffstetler; and five granddaughters, Sara Alexander Galbreath, Holly Ruth Pitts, Elizabeth Anne PItts, Coursey Lynn PItts, and Molly Brandon Pitts.
The Pitts family will receive friends for a visitation at Boone-Card Funeral Home, Indianola from 5:00-7:00 p.m., Monday, August 24, 2015. Reverend Stephen Sparks will officiate.
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to Delta Missions, Inc., P. O. Box 651, Indianola, MS 38751 or to Indianola Academy, P. O. Box 967, Indianola, MS 38751.