Amelia Pittinger Wise's Obituary
AMELIA PITTINGER WISE, 92, died on December 9, 2024, at Ashleigh at Lansdowne in Leesburg, Virginia.
Born May 26, 1932, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Amelia “Melsie” Pittinger was the daughter of Frank and Veronika Pittinger. She grew up in a loving, lively community of extended family who came together to enjoy German food and conversation. They bonded over baseball, especially the NY Giants, a team close to Amelia’s heart and the subject of her painstakingly maintained scrapbook when she was a teenager. Amelia would re-create this conviviality wherever she went, forming lasting friendships and demonstrating love and care with her companionship, sense of fun, and her thoughtful, generous spirit.
Amelia loved New York City. She worked as a secretary at Morgan Guaranty in the 1950s, commuting to work from her family’s home in Linden, New Jersey, and later from her own apartment in Queens, which she decorated with flair. She was a city girl at heart, seeing Broadway shows and movies with friends, playing tennis at Forest Hills, and, fatefully, attending a serviceman’s dance at the New Yorker Hotel in 1962. There she met and fell in love with Lt. Richard B. Wise, USCG (Dick). They were married the following year.
Together Dick and Amelia had three children, Bill, Gail, and Laura, on Coast Guard bases in New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. She had her hands full raising a young family on her own when Dick was at sea, but even so, Amelia frequently hosted large groups of friends and family. She welcomed all-comers without fuss and made everyone feel at home. Her sister, Betty, used to say of these times that everyone was fed, comfortable, and “warm enough,” and if they weren’t warm enough, they were swiftly covered with a blanket or the heat was turned up.
In 1973, Dick was assigned to a post in Portland, Maine, which would be their home for the next fifty years. Amelia quickly became an essential member of her new community by joining clubs and making innumerable friends. She was a member of the Summit Street Community Club, a Girl Scout troop leader, and a good neighbor, organizing events and parties to bring everyone together, including a Bicentennial picnic and countless holiday potlucks.
Amelia loved connecting with people and was always learning. An enthusiastic traveler, she sailed to Europe with her sister before commercial airlines were common. Whenever driving on the West Side in New York, she would fondly identify the transatlantic ocean liners docked there. The ships were like friends to her. In 1977, she and Dick took the family to the UK, driving a rented car through the countryside and stopping to tour every historic house and castle they came across. Amelia also made sure to check in with friends she’d made in her New York days, colleagues and pen pals with whom she maintained warm correspondence for decades.
In the early 1980s, Amelia took her skills back to the workforce as an assistant to the superintendent of the Portland Public Schools, where she thrived and, naturally, enjoyed her expanding social circle.
Amelia’s curiosity and enthusiasm were infectious, enriching her family’s travels and lives. She demonstrated the Willie Mays basket catch in the backyard; taught her youngest, Laura, how to knit; took her children to the theater, museums, libraries, baseball games, air and space museums, rocket launches, and tennis tournaments; hosted foreign exchange students; attended Boy Scout ceremonies, Little League games, and school plays; and bought her children shelves and shelves of books.
In retirement, Amelia took the opportunity to put her love of history to work, volunteering as a docent at the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House and taking visitors on tours up the challenging staircase of the Portland Observatory tower. She researched their topics excitedly and took great pride in giving tours and sharing knowledge. She was also a dedicated member of her book club and swim aerobics club, attending each until her late eighties, even when her eyesight began to fail.
Amelia and Dick had an enviable retirement together enjoying each other’s company. Their devotion to each other was an inspiration to all who knew them. They delighted in traveling to visit friends and family as far away as Austria, Germany, England, Florida, Québec, Nebraska, Alaska, and California. They logged many miles as avid Volksmarchers all over the world, but Amelia liked city sidewalks best. One year they even went to Hollywood so that Amelia could attend the Academy Awards and walk the red carpet with her daughter-in-law.
In 2022, Amelia and Dick moved to an assisted living residence in Leesburg, Virginia, close to their son, Bill, and daughter-in-law, Dianne, who were exceptional at attending to their needs. The isolation of the Covid epidemic and loss of several close friends, and then Dick’s death in April 2024, were hard on Amelia, but she never stopped forging connections and making new friends. Her children observed with warm gratitude how she formed a close bond in her final months with her devoted caregiver, Nadra.
Amelia leaves many to cherish her memory, including her son William Martin Wise (Dianne); daughters Gail Elizabeth Wise (Lynne Kirste) and Laura Dawn Wise (Joseph Fodor); stepson Robert Wise; and eight grandchildren.
She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Richard Byrd Wise; granddaughter Caitlyn Shea Wise; sister, Betty Pittinger; and stepson Richard Wise.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.loudounfuneralchapel.com
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