Theodore Ted Piti, age 86, of Mitchell, died September 14, 2005 at the Avera Queen of Peace Hospital. Funeral services will be held at10:30 AM on Monday at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mitchell with a 1:30 PM burial at the Riverview Cemetery at Chamberlain with full military rites. Visitation will be from 6-8 PM Sunday at the Will Funeral Chapel with a prayer service at 7 PM. Ted Piti was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, November 14, 1918 to Maria (DiBlasi) and Tindaro Piti. After graduating from Dickinson High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, he attended business school for two years before being drafted in the Army Infantry on January 26, 1941. He served in the Pacific area and saw combat on Makin Island and Saipan Island where he was wounded. He was honorably discharged on June 15,1945 with the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medal and several other decorations and citations. He married Catena (Cate) Gugliuzzo on April 28, 1946 at St. Peter Catholic Church, Haverstraw, New York. While serving as an apprentice with a tool and dye maker, he resumed his studies and graduated from Weaver Real Estate School in New York City and Bergen Junior College in New Jersey where he majored in mathematics and machine design. He taught tool and dye making and machine design at B.O.C.E.S. Technical School, Rockland County, New York. In 1978, after twenty years of service, he retired as a Laboratory Equipment Designer from the Nathan S. Kline Research Institute, Orangeburg, New York. He was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church, a life member of the DAV Mitchell Chapter #7 where he served as Adj/Treas from 1983 to 2004, State Commander in 1989-1990 and Commander of the Mitchell Chapter from 2004 to the present. He was also a Life member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a Life member of the VFW, member of the American Legion and the Mitchell Lions Club where he served two years as treasurer, Lion Tamer, and was on the board for several years. Ted was named the Honored Veteran of the Year by the Mitchell American Legion, DAV and VFW on November 11, 2004. He is survived by his wife, Catena Cate; two daughters and sons-in-law, Sandra and Denis Lepkowski of Sioux Falls and Lisa and Ron Zeilinger, of Milwaukee, WI; one granddaughter, Beth and Jamey Roush, Harrisburg, SD and five grandsons: Billy Lepkowski and wife, Chris, Reno, NV, Ted and Jeffrey Lepkowski, Phoenix, AZ, and Matthew Zeilinger and his fianc, Mandy Timmerman and Micah Zeilinger, Milwaukee, WI. He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Anna Piti and Mary Tansits, a brother Joseph Piti and a beloved granddaughter, Jessica Ann Lepkowski