Gwendolyn “Gwen” Pitts, age 76, passed away peacefully after falling asleep next to her daughter, Caroline Pitts, while looking out of her bedroom window into the courtyard of beautiful Spring flowers that brought her so much joy.
Gwen was a long-time resident of West Palm Beach, Florida where she worked at the United States Postal Service in the CFS Department for over 20 years. She enjoyed spending time in her garden or visiting Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival, playing Bingo with her friends, and winning against the one-armed bandit slot machines at the Hard Rock or betting on black and red while gambling in Biloxi. Her adventures in life took her from growing up in rural Texas, where her sisters Sharon Devore, Jackie Sams, Laura Houghton, and brother Larry Dale Devore still live today, in an Army (although she cussed like a sailor), family to fishing in the Palm Beach Intercoastal Waterway, driving airboats by twenty-mile bend, and floating down the river of the Ichetucknee Springs in Florida with stops in Georgia to see the World of Coca-Cola (because why not?!) and the Georgia Aquarium. During the summer months while her husband, Daniel Pitts, was alive they visited many places and she shared stories about the trips to Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, flying to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert, driving over the Hoover Dam to stay at Circus Circus in Nevada (her first time in Vegas Baby!). She took family vacations to the next level by cruising from Florida to the Bahamas, Grand Cayman and Belize, swimming with the sharks after walking through a volcano lava tube, and visiting Pearl Harbor while jumping across the four islands in Hawaii with her daughter Dianne Sanchez. She was one of the first who visited the Disney Parks when it was just the Magic Kingdom and you had to buy ride tickets and continued to enjoy each of the new ones as they opened (her favorite was Epcot because they had the Food and Wine and of course the Flower and Garden Festivals), with her last trip visiting with her daughter and son-in-law Sheila and John Teal. Key West was a special place for Gwen to watch the sunset off 7-mile bridge after feeding the tarpon at Robbie’s, dancing and having a few cocktails, while listening to live music with her daughter, Stephanie Wiggins. You could find Gwen enjoying good food (Momma loved those Shrimp Cocktails at Bubba Gump's), sweet desserts (Crème Brule was her favorite), and a before dinner cocktail (oh, those frozen toasted almonds!) during those special occasions like celebrating the births of her 7 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.
She supported the dreams of her daughters and joined their journeys into business ventures from childhood as Girl Scouts and T-ball players to Band, Choir and Artists into adulthood, from Mary Kay, and Over Seas Truck Drivers to Educators, and Newspaper Planning Team Leaders. She spent hours sewing badges on sashes and selling cookies as a Girl Scout mom, ironing uniforms, and driving to band and choir competitions, taking boxes of chocolates to work or hosting “Christmas Around the World” parties and “Mary Kay” facials with the ladies from the Post Office to make sure she was “helping” us.
The “Texas Tornado”, as she called herself, could make a mean buttermilk cornbread from scratch (her grandmother Mervy taught her) in a cast iron skillet that she once used to “knock some sense” into her husband as the story is told. If you were lucky to be a part of her whirlwind, your life was sure to never had a dull moment. This was especially the case when she would say, “here hold my coke for a minute let me show you how it’s done” like the time she took off on the razor scooter and ended up with pins in her hip - but that still did not stop her!
She was always ready for a get together and would bring the deviled eggs, pasta salad and, of course her famous, potato salad- do not forget the pickle relish. We will be doing the same in her memory to celebrate her life by sharing stories, remembering the good times we shared together with family and friends. We will be providing more details about the date, time, and location once the arrangements have been made. We look forward to seeing everyone and reminiscing with you about your favorite times with our momma.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hed-fh.com for the Pitts family.
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