Audna Dunlap Bitner

Obituary of Audna Dunlap Bitner

Please share a memory of Audna to include in a keepsake book for family and friends.

View Tribute Book

Audna Jane Dunlap Bitner passed away peacefully on Saturday morning, November 15, 2025, at her home in Lake Hiawatha, NJ, surrounded by the love of her family. She was 99.

Born on June 3, 1926, in Chambersburg, PA, Audna was a gifted musician whose passion for music shaped her entire life. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Music from West Chester State College in Pennsylvania, where she excelled as a pianist and organist. Audna shared her love of music through teaching, directing church choirs, and performing-touching countless lives with her talent and dedication.

Audna's deep and abiding Christian faith was a guiding force throughout her life. It shaped the way she loved, served and welcomed others. Her faith sustained her in difficult moments and inspired her lifelong commitment to helping those in need. She expressed her devotion not only in worship and music, but in the quiet, everyday acts of kindness that defined her character.

It was at West Chester that she met her future husband, Edward Curtin Bitner, beginning a love story that spanned 69 years until his passing in 2019. After marrying in 1950, they built a family that became the center of Audna's world-a source of endless joy, pride, and purpose. Her home was always filled with warmth, whether for big holiday gatherings, or the ever present welcoming extended to relatives and friends.

A devoted believer in service, Audna lived her life guided by generosity and compassion. She volunteered extensively-teaching children to read at the Church of Land & Sea in Manhattan, collecting food and clothing for families in need, serving on the Migrant Ministry Board, and supporting organizations such as Bread for the World and the Presbyterian Children's Village. She was also a board member of the Care Center for Christ in West Chester and for more than 15 years, she traveled across the country with Ed through their work with the American Red Cross. Her commitment to helping others was another defining part of who she was.

Audna was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Edward. She is survived by her four cherished children-Kerren, Barbara, Craig (and his wife Janet), and Pamella-as well as her grandchildren: Sean and Neil Connelly, Sandya and Aiza Bitner, Maria Meyers, and Michael and Liz Quick and her precious great-granddaughter, Gabriella Bitner Lima.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a Funeral Service and Celebration of Her Life on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. at the Denville Community Church, 190 Diamond Spring Road, Denville, NJ. Interment will follow at Restland Memorial Park, East Hanover, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully welcomes memorial contributions to Community Food Bank of New Jerse y.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Audna Bitner, please visit Tribute Store