Navarral Ann Bitzer

Navarral Ann Bitzer of Manhattan, KS, died Wednesday June 29, 2022, at 5:50 a.m. at the Good Shepherd Homecare and Hospice House in Manhattan. She was 92 years young!

She was born September 15, 1929 to Merlin Luther Johnson and Bessie Virginia (Hagin) Johnson in Hutchinson, KS. Soon after, her family moved to Oklahoma where her maternal grandfather lived on land he homesteaded near Stillwater in 1990. After a few years, the family moved back to Pratt, KS and then to Wichita.

She met her husband Eugene in Wichita, and they were married in Great Bend, KS. After her husband’s discharge from the military, he worked for the Federal Civil Service, Department of the Army, transferring from Great Bend to Garden City in 1968. Ann and Eugene enjoyed being foster parents for several years due to their love of children. During her years in Garden City, Ann worked for the U.S. Post Office, Elementary schools of USD 457, and retired from Edward Jones in 1999.

Ann loved to travel, especially cruising the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Alaska, and along the coast to Canada. She said the European trip visiting 7 countries and her trip to Ireland left her with a lifetime of memories.

Ann was a member of the Manhattan First Baptist Church/ABW, Riley County F.C.E., Senior Center, RSVP, AARP, Harmony Rebekah’s #689, Eagles POPPS club, and DAV Life Member. She moved to Manhattan in 2012 from Garden City, joining the Manhattan Welcome Club soon after. She was their President for 3 years and was known for closing each meeting with a joke. If you knew Ann, you would know how much she loved to laugh, especially at herself. She attended their Coffee and Breakfast groups and said the most fun she had was playing Bunko with her friends. She had been a volunteer with Hospice since 1999 in Garden City and Manhattan. She joined the Garden City Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1976, was elected as State Secretary for 12 years, and became the State President in 1995. The Ann Bitzer Secretary of the Year Award is presented annually during the State Convention in honor of her years in that position.

She received many honors through the years, such as the Local and State Auxiliary, State Aerie Mother/Grandmother/Great Grandmother as a Kansas Special Sunflower, and inducted into the State Hall of Fame in 2009. Ann was presented with the Alta Browning Smith Award in 2013. Only one sister is chosen annually by the FOE Grand Madam President out of the many letters she receives from State Auxiliaries within the United States. Ann started the Past Presidents Club at Auxiliary #3124 in Garden City, KS; was Kansas State Ritual Chairman for 8 years, MINK Ritual Chairman, State Membership Chairman, Conductor for 8 years on a Kansas State Ritual Team, winning first place more than once. She was chosen Heart Queen of her local auxiliary and District #7 and was also named Kansas State Heart Queen. Grand Madam President Lorraine Grimes appointed Ann as Assistant Grand Madam Conductor during the International Grand Convention in Las Vegas. Grand Madam President Carleen Corum named her as the South-Central Regional President in 2001. Ann was honored with being named Mother for the South-Central Region two separate times. She was also a dual member of the Eagles in Manhattan. She served as Secretary/Treasurer of NARFE for several years, she also served on the Finney Country Committee on Aging Board as President in Garden City for 5 years and enjoyed her time as the Queen Bee of a Red Hat Club. She was a Pen Pal with second grade children at the Victor Ornalas School, volunteered for CASA, Family Crisis, was a receptionist at the Senior Center, and called Bingo at a local nursing home. In 1991 Ann was presented with the US President George Bush award, the Thousand Points of Light, the Woodsman Award, and the Hospice Volunteer of the Year award. As the Hospice Coordinator so aptly put it, “Ann is the busiest retired person I’ve ever met.”

Ann served as the Family Coordinator for the 467th Firefighting Unit at the local Army Reserves when the men were deployed to Saudi Arabia. Ann and her husband were honored by being named Grand Marshals in the parade given by Garden City upon their return home from Desert Storm.

Ann enjoyed all types of crafts, found quillery fascinating, loved to write stories and poems, and collected angels and Santa Claus figurines. But felt her greatest gift in life was her husband, daughters, and family.

Ann is survived by two daughters: April Eugenia Garetson of Wamego (John); and Malinda Ann Rose, Groveland, CA; 5 grandsons: John Armstrong, Justin Hudson, Jack Armstrong, Danny Conn, and John Derek Garetson; 3 granddaughters: Misty Segura-Bowers, Brandy Conn, and Ashley Garetson; 9 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandsons.

Ann was preceded in death by her husband in 2007, daughter Sherrina Fawn Bitzer in 2014, her parents, stepfather Roy Cummings, brother Merlin Junior Johnson, who died during WWII, an infant grandson, and great-granddaughter Camryn Leena Rose.

The family will greet friends during a visitation from 5:30 until 7:00p.m. Friday July 15, 2022 at the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home in Manhattan.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday July 16, 2022 at the First Baptist Church, 2121 Bluehills Road in Manhattan. Burial is to be at a later date in Pratt.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Good Shepherd Homecare and Hospice Inc. or the St. Catherine Hospice House in Garden City. Contributions may be sent in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.