George was quite a unique person whom I think impressed most people who met him. If not for his life accomplishments, for the fact that this person in his ninth decade was still flying, keeping horses, and re-inventing his small submersibles with new ideas. I know many of you who read this mailing list corresponded with George personally and trekked to his house to meet him over the years. He always had time for visitors and welcomed them. In 2008 when we had a very difficult time trying to find accommodations for our convention in Maine, George said, "I've got plenty of room here. You can all camp out in my back yard." I almost took him up on that offer until I recalled that a good part of his yard was marsh.
As I'm sure he did with many of you, he often would write me and ask my opinion on some new thing he was working on or thinking about investing his time in. Of course, he invariably almost always had his mind already made up by the time he was seeking an opinion from you, but that was one of the things that made George unique. He had a very matter-of-fact method of dialog and always seemed to have a plan for whatever he was going to get involved in. The first time I went to Maine to visit him, he gave me the grand tour of Thomaston and the surrounding area and he bought me a coffee. Some number of months later, I told him that I wanted to come up for a visit and take him to lunch. He responded in his very factual and predictable (at this point) manner, "Ok then, you tell me when you are going to be here and you can take me out to lunch". We did go out to lunch, but he snatched the bill from the waitress and paid it completely ignoring my objections. I finally told him, "I came up here purposely to buy YOU lunch, George. If you don't let me pay then I'm going to have to come back in a few months and take you out again." to which he responded, "Ok then, you tell me when you are going to be here and you can take me out to lunch again."
One of the conversations we had that still makes me laugh because of the disconnect between his thought process and my own, was one that we had just a few weeks prior to the 2007 convention in Michigan. After telling him about our schedule and guest speakers, and a bit of other chit-chat, I said to him, "Wouldn't it be great George if we could get you to fly out to Michigan to be with us." to which he replied in the most serious of tones, "Oh no! I could never do that...my plane doesn't have the range to make it to Michigan." Those of you who know about George's airplane will hopefully get as much of a kick out of that, as I did. He also had a rather unique method of ending a visit or conversation. Regardless of what the topic was, or where we were within it, he would eventually say, "Ok, what else can I do for you today?" and I instinctively knew that my time with him for this visit or conversation was over.
PSUBS, our organization, myself, and many of you; came into George's life relatively late. I do believe however, that we inspired George in many ways. My overall impression of George has always been that he was the kind of person that didn't dwell on his accomplishments. While he was always interested and willing to talk about small subs, in the time of his life that most of us knew him he was not as obsessed with the K-250 and K-350 as we are. His attitude (to me) when I first met him seemed to be "been there, done that...now what else can I do to keep my mind occupied." He very much seemed to be a soul that would become fixated on a challenge, solve it, and then move on to the next challenge. His interests revolved much more around the small private airplane that he owned and flew, then the K-subs he had developed 30+ years prior. Over time however, I believe we rekindled his interest in submarines and we collectively, are one reason he restarted development of his UEM submersible. Without insinuating he needed it, my sense is that many of our conversations surrounding the K-boat design, resulting in many people contacting him personally to talk about their own K-sub project or just to talk to him about submarines in general, inspired him to take a second look at his accomplishments and validated all the hard work he had done in the early 70's.
Jon Benny Fritz wrote:
I remember when I was on vacation back in...1995 I believe. I met the good Captain at his railway in South Thomaston. He was lowering his sub tender, with K-250/350 on board, into the cold Maine waters. He had no problems with a young, bright eyed boy, looking and probably drooling over his creation. It was back then that I first became interested in submarines and began to design my own boats. When I enlisted and got stationed in Maine I found his email and wrote him a letter recounting that visit. I received a letter back thanking me for the kind words. He even included his catalog of submarine designs!I'm sure that all of us will remember him fondly and honor him for his service, his insight and his kindness. Capt. George Kittredge, USN(Ret), you will be missed by all you have touched, trained and inspired and I wish you peace. Shipmate, We have the watch. AT1(AW/SW) Benjamin Todd Fritz, USN
************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages from our organization. If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the link below or send a blank email message to: removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an automated process and should be complete within five minutes of our server receiving your request. PSUBS.ORG PO Box 53 Weare, NH 03281 603-529-1100 ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************