John R. Witt ’53 of Missouri City, Texas, died on April 5, 2010. John was born in 1930 in St. Joseph, Mo. At Mines he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and graduated with a professional degree in metallurgical engineering. He was called ‘Dick’ while at Mines, but returned to using ‘John’ after his military service. He worked for Caterpillar after graduating and spent 21 years in the Army Corps of Engineers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. John served at six duty stations in the United States, earned a master’s degree in civil engineering at Texas A&M in 1960, and served from 1964 to 1967 on the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) staff at Mines. He served three duty assignments in the Mediterranean Division, advising local military in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and he served one tour in Vietnam. After retiring from the military in 1975, he worked for Union Carbide in Connecticut and Houston as a project manager, and then joined Eltech, a start-up manufacturing firm, as chief engineer. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Jeanne; son, Jack; daughters, Katy Cox, Libby Witt and Peggy Ballard; and four grandchildren.