Kenneth "Ken" Bitting

Mystic - Early Saturday morning, Jan. 23, 2021, Kenneth "Ken" Bitting slipped his mooring lines and sailed for the horizon. He spent his last days peacefully surrounded by his wife, daughters, son-in-law, and grandson.

Whether inspecting the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, singing high mass in St Peter's in Rome, helicoptering to an oil rig in the North Sea, or taking the helm of a sailboat, Ken was always at ease with the world around him and eager for more adventure.

Born on the first day of summer in 1945, to Robert and Ina Bitting, Ken grew up in Pacific Palisades, California and, as a teenager, learned to sail on Lake Arrowhead where he was a lifeguard.

After graduating with the first class at Pacific Palisades High School, Ken received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, served as a First Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers and earned his master's degree from Oregon State University.

In 1972, he began work at the newly created Coast Guard Research and Development Center at Avery Point in Groton, remaining there for his entire career. Early on he earned the moniker "ropemeister," having created a unique forty-foot-long device to test the strength of marine ropes. People always knew he was working when the familiar canon-like boom echoed through the building as a large diameter rope reached its breaking point. His efforts contributed much to the understanding of the performance of ropes in real-world marine environments and to improvements in safety and procurement practices for the Coast Guard.

In the early 1990s, as part of the 'Tiger Team" he helped provide better responses to oil spill clean-up efforts. He collaborated in the building of test tanks in Mobile, Ala. and organized simulation exercises off Galveston, Texas using oranges as stand-ins for oil to test fire resistant booms. The techniques he helped develop played a significant role in clean-up efforts in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where over 400 "in situ" burns were conducted and over 220,000 barrels of oil were recovered. In 2001 Ken received the U.S. Secretary of Transportation team award for his efforts.

After moving to Mystic in the mid-1970s, Ken sailed Long Island Sound and, in the eighties with his wife Ginny, sailed to Cape Cod, the Elizabeth islands and to Penobscot Bay in Maine. In 2002, they, with daughter Adrienne and cat Pearl, spent a year sailing down the east coast of the U.S. and across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas where they spent five months cruising the Exumas and Abacos on their 42-foot sailboat, Trio con Brio.

Ken sang baritone for over thirty years with the chorus of Westerly where he met Ginny in the early1980s. He toured with them in Europe and Great Britain, singing at Westminster Abbey, St Peter's Basilica in Rome and St Stefan's in Vienna among others. He and Ginny also had amateur careers as back-up singers in Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York the early 1980s and with Barry Manilow at Foxwoods in 1996.

Ken was a member of the Ram Island Yacht Club for over thirty years and greatly enjoyed jumping in to help launch the docks, serve at parties, and raise the flagpole at the start of the season.

Ken treasured his family and friends and loved a good party or a simple get-to-together over beer and pizza.

Aside from his wife, he leaves behind two wonderful daughters, Jennifer and Adrienne; as well as son-in-law Patrick; grandson Riley; brother-in-law Willy; nephews, Matt and Chris; and niece Stephanie; and three great-nephews and a great-niece.

Donations in his memory can be made to the Chorus of Westerly, RI or the Ram Island Yacht Club Junior sailing program.

A celebration of his life will take place at a later date when it is safe to gather.