Daniel Fitterer

Daniel Fitterer was born to Frank & Lena Fitterer in Glen Ullin, ND, on October 16, 1927, and passed in Alpine, CA, on May 24, 2025. Daniel was proceeded in passing by his wife (the love of his life) of almost 70 years Doris Fitterer, his parents and 6 siblings, is survived by his children: Diane Flora, Deborah Smith and Dawn Lee Cox; his grandchildren: Amy Smith, Toby Christensen, Jennifer Jackson, Joey Cox, Sara Lopez and James Flora; his great grandchildren Kylie Ward, Katie Jackson, Jaime Alarcon, Gabriella Rodriguez, Savannah Jackson, James Ross, Esteban DeMara, Angelina Perez, Danielle Jackson, Avery Cox, Asher Cox, Declan Flora and Ezekiel Flora; his great-great grandchildren: Wesley Alarcon, Raelynn Ward, Aaron Ward Jr., Kanen Ward and Oaklynn Ward. And many nieces and nephews.

Daniel, known to most as Dan, grew up on a farm during the depression years. He actually wrote a book - Let's Go Boys - of his years growing up on the farm, which is quite entertaining and informative. Dan's school years were mostly in a one room schoolhouse through the 8th grade and then attended high school in town. He was the star of the high school basketball team and loved this sport. He also met his future wife, Doris Martin, while in high school.

Dan enlisted in the Marine Corp for 4 years after high school. He was rated sharp shooter, and received the 3rd highest score in Morse code. His most noteworthy even of his time in the Marines was when the went to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific during the time of Bikini Atomic bomb tests. He was a member of the "Grand Council, Exclusive Order of Guinea Pigs" from his experiences with the atom bomb testing.

After he was granted leave to return to North Dakota and married his high school sweetheart, Doris Martin. He returned to Marine duty at Camp Pendleton, CA, where his first daughter, Diane, was born. After his discharge from the Marines, he moved his family back to Bismarck, ND and attended Capital Commercial College and worked for Ace Hardware. This is where their 2nd daughter, Debby, was born.

They then moved to San Diego where Dan managed a hardware store for a time and then on to Billings, MT, where he obtained his Ham radio license. This was one of his favorite hobbies until the internet. Their 3rd daughter, DawnLee, was born in Billings.

In San Diego he worked for Convair Astronautics on the Atlas Missile program. Dan then had an opportunity to work for the City of San Diego, which is where he finally settled until retirement. This was his dream job. While at the City, Dan was able to do some fun things like setting up the systems for one of the last Powder Derby women's air race, the Unlimited Hydroplane races at San Diego Bay and the Soaring Championships at the bluffs by the ocean north of La Jolla shores. Dan spent quite a bit of time installing radios in police cards and helped build a new police communications system.

One of his favorite hobbies was flying radio control model airplanes. He also had a great time working some evenings and weekends as sound engineer for football and baseball games at the stadium. His wife became a big baseball fan during this time.

After 25 years Dan retired, and he and Doris moved to Payson, AZ. They enjoyed this until he found out he was allergic to Juniper pollen and they were surrounded by Juniper trees. also missing family who was all in California made the move back easier.

Dan and Doris spent many of their retirement years camping, visiting parents and relatives in North Dakota and just enjoying all of their children, grandchildren, great & great-great grandchildren. After his beloved wife passed away in 2015, Dan moved to Alpine, CA, with his oldest daughter and enjoyed his final years in the Crown Hills community. He played X-Box well into his 90's and was well-known for his scooter (called the Green Lantern) and his dog Chloe.

Dan loved his family well, loved animals, was very intelligent and always coming up with ideas to invent things or how to do things a better way. Dan also delighted in making people laugh. He will be sorely missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.