John Cecil Fitch

John Cecil Fitch, 85
     PEMAQUID HARBOR -- John Cecil Fitch was born in Hingham, Mass., May 21, 1921, the son of Admiral Aubrey Wray and Gwyneth Conger Fitch. He lived as a youth at various locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. He attended St. Georges School in Newport, R.I., and Trinity College, where he was a member of the Delta PSI Fraternity.
     Commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy in early 1942, he participated in the Guadalcanal campaign and served the remaining years of WW II as a gunnery officer on destroyers in the Pacific Theater.
     Upon discharge from the Navy in 1946, he joined Stone and Webster, Incorporated in New York City. Fitch moved to Houston in 1948 and helped establish the Rackle Company, later to become its president. Rackle merged with the Houston Contracting Company, a large diameter cross country pipeline and marine construction firm, in which he served as executive vice president. Later HCC merged with SEDCO Incorporated, an international drilling contractor. Fitch continued to serve as EVP of their world-wide pipeline and marine construction operations.
     On retirement in 1981 he divided his time between residences in Houston and Pemaquid Harbor on the Maine coast. Jack Fitch loved the sea and always lived near it.
     He was a director of Energy South, Incorporated, Tideland Signal Corporation and the International Pipeline Contractors Association. He also served on the Boards of the Hester House, Friends of the Medical Center Library and the Admiral Nimitz Foundation and was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy.
     Fitch is survived by his wife of 56 years, Barbara Stackhouse Fitch; sons William S. Fitch of Houston, Texas, and David and daughter-in-law Cindy Brookshire of Jacksonville, Fla.; grandchildren Avery and John C. III of Jacksonville, Fla.; and a brother, Aubrey W. Fitch Jr. of Newcastle. He was predeased by his eldest son, John Cecil Fitch Jr.
     For those desiring, memorial contributions may be sent to:
     The Admiral Nimitz Foundation, PO Box 777
     Fredricksburg, Texas 78624
    or to
    Miles Home Health & Hospice
     40 Belvedere Rd.
     Damariscotta, Maine 04543
     or a charity of your choice.
     A memorial service will be held at the Harrington Meeting House cemetery, Bristol, on Thursday, July 27, at 4 p.m.