Ray Knitter, 56, the president of Ray Knitter and Associates, a manufacturer’s representative in Glendale Heights that specializes in electronic controls, died of cancer Wednesday, March 22, in his Wayne home. Mr. Knitter also owned Instrumentation Inc. with offices in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Mr. Knitter was born and raised in Easton, Pa., and graduated from Ohio University with a degree in electrical engineering. He joined the Air Force in 1965 and worked with General Dynamics on the bomb-release systems of the F-111. He left the service in 1973 as a captain. Along with electronic equipment, Mr. Knitter’s company sold Mercaptan, a substance added to natural gas that gives it a sulfur smell. A religious man, Mr. Knitter was active in Wheaton Wesleyan Church, where he was a former vice chairman of the local board of administration, said longtime family friend Art Fowler. “Ray had a deep faith in Christ,”said Fowler. Mr. Knitter was a fly fisherman and a hunter who spent part of his summers and autumns at his family’s streamside cabin in Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountains, said his wife, Margaret. “It was the death of our 2-year-old son of cancer that brought my husband his faith. It changed his life,” said his wife. Other survivors include two sons, Tim Reist and Chris Knitter; three daughters, Jane Knitter, Tammy Wisley and Tracy TreDenick; seven grandchildren; and a sister, Marie Rozsak. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton. Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Wheaton Wesleyan Church, 1300 S. President St., Wheaton.
