The Rev. Walter W. Witte of Oak Bluffs died at Massachusetts General Hospital on Dec. 12, 2016. Father Witte, the son of Walter W. Witte Sr. and Pauline Praker Witte, was born on Sept. 11, 1927, and grew up in North Tonawanda, N.Y. He was a graduate of Hobart College, the Berkley Divinity School at Yale University, and Union Theological Seminary in New York. Ordained to the priesthood in 1954, he served churches in the dioceses of Western New York, Missouri, Newark, Springfield, and Massachusetts.
As a bivocational priest, he worked as personnel director at St. Louis City Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., and at the St. Louis Housing Authority. He also was a vice president at Drake Beam Morin and at New Directions, both in Boston.
He is survived by his wife Patricia, his son Matthew (Roslynn) Witte, his stepchildren Margaret (Terry) Heffner and Michael (Megan) Griffin, and his step-grandchildren, Deanna and Tricia Heffner, Britnee Knox, and Brandon and Blake Griffin. He was predeceased by his sister Karen Witte Hutt.
The funeral will take place on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, at 11 am at St. Andrew’s Church, 51 Winter Street in Edgartown.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Father Witte’s memory may be made to Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, 780 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118; Animal Rescue League of Boston, 10 Chandler Street, Boston, MA 02116; or St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 73 Columbia Road, Dorchester, MA 02121.