Donald R. Bitner
MURPHYSBORO -- Donald R. Bitner, age 69, passed away at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, at home.Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004, at Pettett Funeral Home, with the Rev. Nate Hagen officiating. Burial will be at Pleasant Grove Memorial Park. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. today and Wednesday until the hour of services at the funeral home.Memorials may be made to Hospice of Southern Illinois, Inc. or the First Lutheran Church.Donald was born on Oct. 26, 1934, in the Grange Hall area, north of Murphysboro, to Arthur Bitner and Gladys (Imhoff) Bitner.Mr. Bitner had retired from the maintenance department with the former Jackson County Nursing Home in Murphysboro.He was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Murphysboro. He was also a member of the following organizations: the Appaloosa Horse Club, the Moose Lodge in Murphysboro, and the Jackson County Farm Bureau.He married Judy Jines on March 21, 1964, in Murphysboro, and she survives.Other survivors include his mother of Murphysboro; five children, Michael Guetersloh and his wife, Kathy Guetersloh of Murphysboro, Patricia Thompson and her husband, Brian Thompson, Daniel Bitner and his wife, Nancy Bitner, and Mary Cross, all of Ava, and Rebecca Clover and her husband Bryan Clover of Murphysboro; eleven grandchildren, Jakob Guetersloh, Dacquiri Richey, B.J. Thompson, Breanna Thompson, Douglass Bitner, Nikki Bitner, Jimmy Cross, Heather Cross, Bryce Clover, Bridgett Clover, and Billy Clover; one brother and sister-in-law, Paul Bitner and Arlene Bitner, of Murphysboro; one sister and brother-in-law, Ruth Ann Richards and Homer Richards of Murphysboro.He was preceded in death by his father.