William died Sunday evening, June 24, 2018 at Utah Valley Specialty Hospital in Provo Riverwoods. William (Bill) was born August 18, 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri to William Sr. and Eunice Chitty. Bill graduated from Washington University, St. Louis, MO in 1955 with a degree in electrical engineering.
He went to work with IBM in Kinston, N.Y. designing more compatible computers. There he met and married Agida Serdienis in 1961. He later served his country in the United States Air Force, achieving the rank of 1st Lieutenant on active duty in Berlin Germany between 1963 and 1967, during the cold war.
Bill was in charge of unjaming landing signals at the Templehof airport, that the Russians were interrupting. After leaving active duty, Bill he went to work for Caltech, JPL in Pasadena, CA. He worked there for 30 years being in charge of many space projects in conjunction with NASA, like Mariner Mars ’69, Mariner 9 mission to Mars, receiving many awards, like the Apollo Achievement Award and NASA’s Multimission Data Capture Award.
During this time Magnavox Advance Product Division petitioned Bill to join the construction of the first GPS in 1972. Bill was in charge of simulating the triangular satellite system. After the first GPS was established and working for the military in 1991, it proved instrumental in winning Deseret Storm in four days of ground combat.
Bill returned to Caltech, JPL and was put in charge of the Hubble Telescope Camera which is still sending photographs to earth. Bill has been a member of the LDS Church since 1974. In his 44 years as a member, he had many callings and served with leadership and compassion.
Bill is survived by his wife of 57 years, Agida (Aggie), two daughters: Brenda (Michael) Daniels and Benita (Dr. Donald) Harline; grandchildren: James (Nikiya) Daniels, Rachel Daniels, Ashley Daniels, William Daniels, Kelli Harline, Kyle Harline, Stephanie (Micah) Martinez, Elder Jason Harline (currently serving in the Monterey Mexico Mission); great grandchildren: Jacoby Daniels and Zana Daniels; two sisters: Mary (Dave) Bullock, Naomi (Les) Misemer and his brother David (Faye) Chitty. Bill was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Harold, who died at age 31, as a policeman. Funeral services will be held Saturday, June 30, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. in the Lindon First Ward Chapel, 56 East 600 North, Lindon where family and friends may attend a viewing from 9:00 – 10:45 a.m. Interment will be in the Lindon City Cemetery where military honors will be conducted by the VFW Post 4918.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www. olpinmortuary.com.
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