Obituary index

Victor Dittus

[June 06, 2011]  ATLANTA -- Victor L. Dittus, 91, of Atlanta, died Sunday, June 5, 2011, at 12:05 p.m. at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln.

Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Wednesday at Zion Lutheran Church, 205 Pulaski St. in Lincoln. His funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the church, with the Rev. David Ramirez officiating.

Arrangements were handled by Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home in Lincoln.

Mr. Dittus was a farmer.

He was born on Oct. 27, 1919, in Chestnut. He was the youngest son of William F. and Emma Volle Dittus. He married Shirley Kaminski of Decatur on Valentine’s Day in 1954.

He is survived by his wife; one son, Lyndon (and Nola) Dittus of Heyworth; two daughters, Vicki (and Shane) Miller of Bloomington and Michele Dittus of Decatur; six grandchildren, Riley Victor, Emily RuthAnn and Abby Lee Dittus of Heyworth, M. Kitti Victoria Miller of Bloomington, Ben of New York and Genny of Paris, France; and two nieces.

Mr. Dittus was an elder and Sunday school superintendent at Zion Lutheran Church in Lincoln and a member of the Lutheran Laymen’s League. He was a member of the Lawndale and Chester-East boards of education.

He was baptized and confirmed in Chestnut Zion Lutheran Church. He was educated in Chestnut during grade school and three years of high school, traveling to and from school by horse and cart. He graduated from Beason High School in 1937. He and his brother, Wilford, drove a car to Beason for their senior year.

Victor attended Millikin University and enlisted in the Air Force as an aviation cadet.

He and his wife moved to the Barbara and Adella Gehlbach farm, south and east of Lawndale, with an Atlanta address. They set up housekeeping, remodeled and continued to live in their honeymoon cottage, now named Candle Stick Lane Farm.

Each year at Christmas, 12 large candles lit the lane of the family farm. There was a lighted Nativity with choir singers and a Santa with sleigh. The evergreen trees, shrubs and house were outlined with hundreds of Christmas lights visible to travelers along Interstate 55. Many children came through the lane, and Victor was Santa and treated them to candy canes.

He was a loving husband, dad and grandpa, and he didn’t know a stranger. He was born with a green light on -- always on the "GO." He loved the fairs, National Farm Machinery Show and Farm Progress Show.

He will be greatly missed by all who know him.

Memorials may be given to Zion Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital or Generation Rescue, an autism organization.

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