Willis A. Bittick

Willis Ambrose Bittick passed away peacefully on July 2, 2025, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was 92.
Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, July 12, 2025 at Osborn Funeral Home in Shreveport, with services following at 11:00 a.m. in the Osborn Chapel. He will be interred at the Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Coushatta.
Mr. Bittick was born on August 14, 1932, in Bloomsdale, Missouri to Kennard and Florence Bittick, the youngest of their four children. He grew up in Festus, Missouri, having the type of idyllic childhood typically seen only in a Norman Rockwell painting. He loved to reminisce about those times, frequently telling friends and family story after story of his adventures as a precocious boy growing up in a small Missouri town during a quieter time.
Mr. Bittick graduated from Festus High School in 1951, and attended Tarkio College in Tarkio, Missouri for two years on a football scholarship. In 1953, he joined the United States Army and was deployed to Korea during the Korean War. His service there earned him the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. He was honorably discharged in 1955, returning to Missouri where he enrolled at The University of Missouri. His Mizzou years were fodder for many stories about his campus exploits as a member of the Phi Kappa fraternity and a contributing artist to the school's Show-Me Magazine. He was forever proud of having had two of his works selected as cover art for the magazine.
Mr. Bittick graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in business in 1957. He married Ann Fergusson Bittick in 1958 and moved to Shreveport in 1960 to work alongside her father, Thomas Fergusson at Fergusson Insurance Company.
His life was filled with many hobbies and interests, almost always requiring him to learn a new skill. He was a longtime member of the Shreveport Yacht Club, serving as its Commodore in 1975. He loved to race sail boats – sometimes dragging along one of his three children to crew for him. He participated in long-distance car rallies and competed in dressage and carriage pleasure driving events. While in his late 80s, he bought a mini horse with plans to train it for competition, but his failing health prevented that. Indeed, as he grew older, his children found themselves diplomatically suggesting to their adventurous father that some of his ideas and interests – like the idea of fishing from a kayak on Cross Lake - might be a bit too dangerous for him. He would hear nothing of it: When they found a new home for his kayak, he simply bought a new one.
Each time he found a new hobby, he encouraged others – especially young people - to fall in love with it too. He promoted programs for young sailors on Cross Lake and helped young riders learn the joy of riding and caring for horses. He loved opera, all forms of music and his rescue dog Sophie. But art was his true passion. He spent most of his adult years perfecting his considerable skills in pointillism – an art technique in which images are created using tiny dots. Today, the works he created are prized possessions of his children and grandchildren.
Mr. Bittick was a man of strong beliefs and equally strong opinions: The University of Missouri was the best school in the country, Winston Churchill was one of the finest military minds to ever live (of course he had read Churchill's six-volume history of World War II in its entirety), and martinis were made with gin. His intelligence and humor will be dearly missed.
Will Bittick was preceded in death by his parents, sister Junette Bittick Henson, and brothers John Bittick and Bob Bittick; his former wife Ann Bittick; his son-in-law Mike Dailey; and Dorothy Bittick, whom he married in 1984.
He is survived by his son Thomas Bittick and wife Susan of Dripping Springs, Texas; two daughters Elizabeth Dailey of McKinney, Texas and Mary Camden and husband Mike of Shreveport. His seven grandchildren are Sarah Bates of Allen, Texas; Michael Camden of Austin, Texas; Emily Judice of Friendswood, Texas; Caroline Camden of Austin, Texas; Rebecca Miller of Madisonville, Louisiana; Chad Dailey of Shreveport, Louisiana; and Steve Dailey of Ponchatoula, Louisiana. He also had 13 great-grandchildren.
The family extends sincere thanks to St. Joseph Hospice for the compassionate care shown to Mr. Bittick in his final months, and to his daughter, Mary, with whom he lived for his last six months of life. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to The Arc
Caddo-Bossier GREAT Program, which provides equine assisted services to children and adults with disabilities. Information about the GREAT Program is available at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/thearccaddo-bossier/.