Earl Vincent Vitus
Marriages
Shirley Langerak - 1954
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 5A Death Notice - October 12, 2017
Earl Vincent Vitus, 91, Grand Junction, died Oct. 7, 2017, at
his home.
Visitation will begin at noon Tuesday at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary.
Services will follow at 1 p.m. at the mortuary.
He was a WWII veteran and a teacher.
Survivors include his wife, Shirley.
Memorial contributions to the Samaritan’s Purse for Hurricane
Relief, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, North Carolinia 28607; or to HopeWest,
3090B N. 12th St., Grand Junction 81506.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D Obituary - October 15, 2017
Earl Vincent Vitus was born
on May 9, 1926, in Oakridge,
Oregon, to Ralph and Mary
Vitus, the elder of two
children. He grew up in
Eugene with his foster family,
Jeppie and Lucille Jensen. He
lived with them until he was
17, when he enlisted in the
Navy in 1943. He served in
LST GROUP 67 on LST-651
Landing Ship Tank and was at
all the major battle areas of
the South Pacific. He didn’t
talk much about his service
years, but talked about LST-
651, which mowed down a
row of palm trees when the
captain made a
miscalculation. He was also in
the midst of the huge 1945
typhoon that hit in the South
Pacific, and he saw many of
the ships in his unit destroyed
by the forces of nature. He was also present in China and Japan
for the neutralization process.
After the war, he enrolled in Northwestern College in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he earned a degree in speech,
completed seminary, and became an ordained Baptist minister.
It was also there that he met Shirley Langerak, and the team of
Earl and Shirl was born. They were married in 1954 and moved
to Eugene, Oregon, where they pastored Dexter Baptist Church.
Together they obtained their Masters Degrees at the University
of Oregon.
They decided to go into teaching full time. Their first teaching
experience was in Williston, North Dakota, which was then a
peaceful, small village. It is unrecognizable today as it is the
center of an oil boom. Two years later, Earl became
superintendent of the Sheldon Unified District in Sheldon,
North Dakota. In 1960, they moved to Grand Junction where he
spent 28 years teaching at Grand Junction Junior High, Central
High School, and Orchard Mesa Middle School. He retired in
1988.
Earl was an active member of Grand Mesa Jeep Club. Under
the moniker of Frank Buck, as commander he led many trips to
arches, Indian ruins, and scenic areas. He and Shirl were active
round and square dancers as members of numerous square
dance clubs in the Valley. They were also active members of
The Museum of Western Colorado and took all the
archeological classes offered through the museum. As members
of the Colorado Gem and Mineral Club, he taught
silversmithing classes.
That led to their active participation in rock art research. Their
interest in archeology led to a three-month expedition with
Harvard University Museum to Ashkelon, Israel, where their
grid revealed a cemetery, which contained over 250 dog
skeletons. Each had to be excavated individually. They
participated in a private excavation in Ecuador and also one
with the University of Pennsylvania in Guatemala. They visited
every Mexican state and territory and most of Central America
searching out Mayan, Mixtec, and Olmec sites.
Travel was at the heart of their adventures. They spent at least
one month in every US state and each Canadian province. They
were especially fond of the Oregon coast, Newfoundland-
Labrador, and Easter Island. They made six trips to Alaska,
where Earl had an especial interest in traveling the Aleutian
Chain to Dutch Harbor and Attu, which were World War II
sites. They drove the pipeline road to Prudhoe Bay, flew into
Nome to see the finish line of the Iditarod Races, and to point
Barrow, the northern most point of the United States.
Some of their last travels included 14 winters in Mesa,
Arizona, one of the Square Dance Capitals of the World. They
also developed an interest in preserving antique carousels. This
included running the International Carousel Art museum in
Hood River, Oregon, for ten seasons, and the Ferry County
Carousel in Republic, Washington, for several summers. They
tried to photograph all the Carousels listed on the National
Carousel Association Census, which led them to many states
and towns. As they traveled, they visited every state capital
building, most of the Presidents birth places and burial sites, and
the Peter “Wolf” Toth massive Indian head carvings located all
across the country. Earl was often heard to say, “I have lived in
the best of times and in the best of places. I have been truly
blessed. I’ve made many good friends.”
Earl is survived by Shirley, his bride of 63 years; cousin, Jim
Vitus of Monroe, Oregon; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, John
and Judy Langerak, of Chester, Maine.
Earl was a devoted Christian believer and loved and lived by
the Bible. He strongly believed in John 3:16, “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
and the words of Paul in Philippians 1: 21, “For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.” Because of this, we know where Earl
now abides and has begun his new adventure.
Services will be at Callahan-Edfast on Tuesday October 17,
2017 at 1:00; visiting from 12:00. Military Honor Services
following immediately at Orchard Mesa Cemetery.
Donations can be made to Samaritan Purse Hurricane Relief
Fund or to HopeWest.
