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Born to Bob and Edwina
Reitter September 15, 1953, Alan Reitter grew up in the small town
of New Castle, California. It was a simple upbringing on a sort of
farm, and all Alan loved doing was fishing and hunting. The middle
child, Alan and his brothers were able to run all around the hills
of the farming community when not in school or doing chores.
While growing up the
family, like all good families in those days, went to the local
church and the boys sang in the choir. Even though they were church
going folk, they weren't truly following Christ, and it wasn't too
long before they stopped going.
After high school
Mr. Alan joined the military, entering the Navy, and becoming a core man. He served his country during Vietnam helping to patch up
the soldiers as well as the locals.
Once back in the states, he joined his family that had now moved to the great state
of Alaska. He teamed up with his father and they had a successful
cleaning business. Once bored with that Mr. Alan set through a
course of many jobs until finally landing one that he was almost
born for: sporting goods. He was hired by Gary Kings, an Anchorage
Sporting Goods store, and went on to become the buyer.
In the Winter of 91,
Gary Kings expanded and opened a store in Kenai, Alaska. They wanted
him to take over the management over the store, so he packed up his
wife and daughter and they headed 198 miles south of Anchorage to
the little town of Kenai. That's where God finally got the message
to Alan.
From almost day one,
Pastor Dean Nichols was in the store making his presence known. In
those days he drove a "beater" tan van, or sometimes a
rusty old el Camino. He was constantly pestering Alan to give better
prices, and Alan couldn't help but think the guy was either crazy or
just flat annoying. So he asked a few of the other employees who the
man was, and was shocked to find out he was a Baptist pastor.
Once the story was
out, Dean went all out trying to get Alan to come to church. Alan
always had an excuse. "Not this week, family troubles, wife was
catholic, she doesn't like pastors, I believe you can worship God
from anywhere don't need to be in church." After about two
years, he finally gave in and Easter of 93 the Reitter family sat in
a pew at First Baptist Kenai.
They went back the
following week as Alan's wife, Sue, believed that since it had been
Easter that the church had been on their "best behavior"
and that the true "colors" of the church would be shown.
Little did they realize that the church was beginning it's Spring
revival and Pastor Bobby Boyles of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was
speaking. Both Alan and his wife were saved. They've never looked
back since.
In the last 13 years
the Reitters have seen God work in many ways. Alan was hired as the
youth director at FBCK in 96, and that next year saw the closing of
the Gary Kings stores. Alan was offered a job at Fred Meyers with
the promise that he would be able to schedule work around youth
activities, but after it was taken over by another company he was no
longer able to do that and so he found a job at another local
sporting goods store: Wilderness Way. In 2003, he began having
issues with pain in his feet. He went to a veteran's clinic in
Anchorage and while doing some tests they believed he had diabetes,
after another series of tests they asked him about his medical
experience in the military and then offered him a job as a medical
technician for the Kenai clinic.
In 1999, the
Reitters opened their home to foster children, and that is where
they met Duane. After a long drawn out series of events and battles,
Duane is now the youngest member of the Reitter family as he was
adopted December 30, 2005. |
