Daniel Raymond Sitter

Dan was born in Yakima, Washington into a poor family. The family moved to nearby Selah to raise their own food on a small farm. Dan's dad worked construction on large federal projects and was often working with the crews away from home. With his two brothers, Dan picked fruit after school and during holidays to pay for clothes. His mother kept tight reins on her sons. Money was tight, so although Dan became deaf at the age of two, his mom wasn't able to send him to a special school in Seattle. He managed to do well in school, however, by reading lips and books, although he had resulting speech difficulties. After high school graduation, Dan Rode his Fiat to California and signed up for school at Northrup University, an engineering and technical school. He worked in food service at Daniel Freeman Hospital to support himself and lived with roommates.

Brother Elmer lured Dan back to Washington with a job at Boeing where Dan met an "evil genius", a young man who collected model airplane, car and boat engines. This led to Dan's lifetime passion for the hobby and the ultimate - becoming a Guinness World Record holder for having the most Cox internal combustion engines.

Dan loved sunshine though and returned to California to continue his education and found work at Continental Airlines as an airplane mechanic. 'Most fun job I ever had", he'd say.

Dan also had a lively social life without him drinking, smoking or doing drugs. He met Kathy Travers and after they married, they moved to Fontana where she had family. Dan found work there at Kaiser Steel doing chemistry analysis.

Unfortunately, Kathy became very ill. The financial difficulties in the marriage, raising two children, working as much as possible while caring for a much-loved wife became too much for the children and family life. Dan and Kathy parted for the good of all. Their children, Brenda and John, remained with Dan.

Meanwhile, Dan held various jobs in the Inland Empire at manufacturing businesses. Among them was Aerojet in Chino. He often held second jobs at local places to make ends meet. Dan also attended classes at Valley College, with his goal of ultimately earning a college degree.

Dan was devoted father, supporting Brenda and John and their activities. He loved to travel, camp, and visit Native American ruins all over the Southwest . The children usually took part. Dan also loved to mountain climb. He climbed every peak in southern CA, as well as Mt. Whitney and Mt. Rainier.

He was active in a fish club. During that time, Dan bred and showed tropical fish. Later in life, he had Koi in his backyard pond.

Dan's hobby to which he devoted countless hours, was collecting model airplane engines. Over the years, he had several collections, selling each when the family needed the money.

After seven years of being a single father, son John encouraged Dan to get serious about dating. Dan, decided to enter the dating world by joining the "over 40's Singles Club" in Redlands. At his first meeting, he met Caryl - it was her first time also.

As the children matured and moved on to follow their own paths, Dan and Caryl married, settled In Fontana and blended their children - Caryl has two daughters, Margery and Ellen.

It was sometimes challenging, but worth it. Dan focused his energies on work, completing his college education, his new marriage, and his engines. Over the years, he collected thousands of engines and was awarded a Guinness World Record. After his graduation from the University of Redlands, Dan became a Quality Manager for several companies. He retired from DSM&T in south Fontana in the late 1990's.

With Caryl, he traveled to many areas of the U.S. and the world, such a China, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Russia, Poland, and other parts of eastern Europe. They also travelled Route 66 from Santa Monica to Chicago. They often enjoyed fishing at the local lakes.

In his last years, Dan suffered several strokes, leaving him with vascular parkinsonism. He fought this like Viking and returned to some mountain climbing, using poles now. But nature always wins.

Over the last seven years, Dan's mobility severely declined and his well-used body finally said, "no more walking, no more climbing" and Dan was wheel-chair bound. He became very ill in early September 2024. Dan was hospitalized and was slowly improving until his unexpected passing on November 12, 2024.

Dan lived a very full life and was loved and honored by many. Dan was intelligent, loving, even-tempered, patient, diligent, always curious, open hearted, a faithful Christian. And he was sometimes just plain goofy. I loved him beyond words.