Imogene Knost Bittenbender

Imogene Knost Bittenbender of Houston, TX, died peacefully on Friday, October 14, 2016. Born January 24, 1920 in Tucson, AZ, to Imogene Robertson Knost and John Henry Knost, Jr. Mrs. Bittenbender is pre-deceased by her loving husband Richard Chase, her brother Jack Knost, and her sisters Lolette Knost Wittmann and Carol Knost McClendon. She is survived by her son Richard C. Bittenbender II and his wife Margot of Old Greenwich, CT; daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) Perry and her husband Rich of Lowell, MA; and son Thomas T. Bittenbender and his wife Gael of Sugar Land TX; six loving grandchildren and their spouses, 5 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Jean, as she was known, attended the University of Arizona then became secretary to the Hon. David I. Walsh US Senator from MA, in Washington DC from 1942 to 1945, where she met her future husband, Capt. Richard Chase Bittenbender, USMCR. She had been married six days when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and Capt. Bittenbender was called to lead the Marine Corps honor guard at Roosevelt’s funeral in DC and Hyde Park, NY. After WWII ended, she accompanied her husband to Cambridge, MA, where he attended Harvard Business School and their first child, Richard C. Bittenbender II, was born. After graduating with distinction, Mr. Bittenbender went to work for Container Corporation of America, where he rose to be an Executive Vice President at the time of his death in 1979. Their first home was in Havertown, PA, and their two younger children were born at Bryn Mawr Hospital. In 1955, the Bittenbenders moved outside of Cleveland, OH, first to Kirtland and then to Hudson. In 1966, they moved to the Chicago area – Lake Forest and then Northbrook, IL – until Mr. Bittenbender’s death. After a brief time in MS, Mrs. Bittenbender moved to Hilton Head, SC, for eight years, then returned to Pass Christian where she was active in PCYC, Trinity Episcopal Church, Martha and St. Monica Guilds, and was appointed to serve on the PC Historic Preservation Commission, and on the Board of the Historical Society and chaired their Tour of Historic Homes for two years. She was a fourth generation Knost living in Pass Christian and the last Knost to hold a membership in the PCYC where she first became a member in 1938. She sailed in the first Knost Regatta, founded by her uncle Bernard Knost and after returning to the Pass, she chaired the Knost Regatta for two years at the PCYC. In 2005, her home was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, at which time she moved to the Houston, TX area. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Richard C. Bittenbender Scholarship Fund at Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH. http://giving.wittenberg.edu/bittenbender Visitation will be held Friday, October 21, 2016 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport. The funeral service is Saturday October 22, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, Pass Christian where friends may visit beginning at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in Live Oak Cemetery. View and sign register book at www.bradfordokeefe.com