Obituary: Adele Ann Pitt

Adele Ann (Connie) Pitt  June14,1928 - July 4, 2021    

Adele was the second of seven children born to Wilhelmina and Stanislaus Telik. Immediately upon graduating from high school in 1946 she went by herself to Toronto where she found a job as a waitress, first in a family restaurant, and later on board the large tourist ships that would ply the Great Lakes from Duluth eastward. In this way she earned the money to begin college at Sir George Williams (now Concordia) in Montreal. She continued to work, now in an insurance office, while obtaining her degree in English. There she met Jack whom she married in 1953 shortly before they moved to New Haven where he commenced graduate studies. During this time Connie worked in the Yale Law Library. She entered into the graduate school life of the university at one time joining a group that published the Starving Student Recipe Book. A delicious cheese ball that later gained much notoriety came to birth at this time.

In 1957 Jack received an offer to join the faculty at the California State University, Fresno and they moved there that August. Connie obtained her teaching credential and taught second grade until she became pregnant with her first son, Mark, who was followed three years later by Alan. (She became a US citizen the year Kennedy was elected President.)

After her sons had left for college she resumed her teaching career as part of an English as a Second Language program directed at the influx of Hmong refugees from Laos. She found this immensely rewarding and it was accompanied by strong and lasting friendships with her fellow teachers.

In 1997 she rejoiced in the arrival of twin grandsons Tristan and Sumner. She has encouraged their progress with love and pride.

At different times she and Jack lived abroad including extended periods in Mexico, Australia, and England. In each country new friends were made.

Connie was active in a variety of local organizations: In 1975 she became Vice-Chair of the Fresno Commission on the Status of Women. Later she was a founding officer of The Forum, an organization of Fresno professional women. At the Unitarian Church she was a member of the Board, the choir and especially enjoyed the long-lasting, perhaps eternal, Women’s Book Group. A great joy later was singing with The Melodears, a lively women’s singing group that performed old Standards before different groups around town.

In 2017 she and Jack moved to Boise to live on the same street as their son Alan. It was a rich life eagerly lived.

( A celebration of Connie’s life will occur in Boise, Idaho (USA) in the fall.)