Charlie RITTENHOUSE

Family-Placed Death Notice

RITTENHOUSE, Charlie CHARLIE RITTENHOUSE Charlie Rittenhouse, age 73, passed away Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at his home with his wife and daughter by his bedside. He was born on February 15, 1939 in Marietta, GA to parents A.L. and Lillian Rittenhouse. He grew up in East Point and College Park Georgia, graduating with honors from College Park High School. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. at graduation. He served two years active duty with the U.S. Army at Jefferson Proving Ground in Madison, Indiana with promotion to 1st Lt. His engineering career expanded over 35 years. After completing his military commitment Charlie joined Lockheed Georgia Company as a senior thermodynamics engineer. In the late 1960's he was responsible for negotiating General Electric TF-39 turbo fan gas turbine performance test procedures with the manufacturer and with the U.S. Air Force Test facility personnel. He spent a year at Edwards Air Force base in California working with a team to flight test the C-5A cargo plane. He joined the Southern Company system in 1971. Charlie held progressively responsible positions from chief mechanical engineer to director of new business development, where he developed and implemented a variety of new business and diversification services which were later incorporated in the creation of Southern Company's subsidiary, Southern Energy. Beginning in 1982, Charlie served as the director of engineering and consulting services for Southern Energy, working within and outside the United States. He was Southern Energy's Project on-site Team Leader for generating plant improvement programs in Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Australia and New Zealand. He also performed business development activities in India, Peru, Guatemala, Germany, Switzerland, Honduras, Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Malaysia, Barbados, Taiwan and the Philippines. He retired from Southern Company in 1994 and formed Rittenhouse Consultants, Inc. providing engineering and management consulting services for electric utility clients. He was a licensed professional engineer and held Professional Project Management certifications. Charlie served in several officer and board roles for the Atlanta Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Citizens for Responsible Growth, the Moorings Homeowners Association, and the Lake Lanier Homeowners Association. For over 43 years he was a member of the Harmony Society, singing in various Barbershop Choruses and as the lead singer in several quartets. Charlie loved the outdoors, canoeing, camping, running and his four grandchildren. As with his children throughout their childhood, he preferred spending one on one time with each child. Whether it was taking trips, teaching them to "fix" things, letting them "work" at his desk or at his shop workbench, he always provided support and encouragement to each to find and use their own special talents. He was a member of the Blackshear Place Baptist Church in Flowery Branch, GA. Charlie is survived by his wife of 48 years, Carol; his son Todd Rittenhouse (Orlando, FL); his daughter Lisa (John) Angove and his four beautiful grandchildren Nicholas, Matthew, Carys, and Catherine Angove (Berkeley Lake); his precious 96 year old mother-in-law, Helen Hardison (Braselton); his sister-in- law and brother-in-law Cheryl and Bob Allen (Hoschton) and several nieces and cousins. A Celebration of Life Service will be held on January 16, 2013 at the Tom M. Wages Snellville Chapel. Pastor Jeff Crook will officiate. Family visitation will be from 12 noon to 1:45 p.m. with the service following at 2 p.m. Honorary Pall Bearers will be members of the Atlanta Area Barbershop Harmony Society choruses. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Georgia Tech Foundation, Atlanta, GA; Harmony Foundation International Memorial Giving Program (hf@harmonyfoundation.org); or the charity of your choice. Condolences may be viewed or sent to www.wagesfuneralhome.com. Tom M. Wages Funeral Service, LLC, "A Family Company" Snellville Chapel 770-979-3200, has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.