Dr. Ralph E. Hitt died on Sunday, January 30 at Baptist Memorial Hospital. He was born on June 1, 1923 to James Lafayette and Josephine Meredith Hitt in Savannah, Tennessee. He was educated at Tennessee State Teacher's College and Vanderbilt University, receiving his doctorate from Vanderbilt in 1951. He taught at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Delta State University before coming to Mississippi State College for Women in 1964. He retired from MUW in 1986. He was married in 1949 to Jean McHenry in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After her death in 1976, he married Virginia Rish Yancey in 1978. He is survived by his children, Drew Hitt (Sandy), Ann Hitt Brooks (Bill), James Hitt, Charlotte Yancey Hart (Jerry), Sheron Yancey Dunn, and Yvonne Yancey Widmer (Greg) in addition to a sister, Virginia Hitt Patterson, a brother John Hitt, 17 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife Jean; three sisters, Margaret Hitt, Josephine Bethel, and Catherine Slaughter; two brothers, Robert Hitt and Jim Hitt; and one grandson, Andrew Hendrix. Visitation will be on Tuesday, February 1 from 6:00-8:00 at Lowndes Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held at Carrier Chapel on the MUW campus at 10:00 on Wednesday, February 2, officiated by The Very Reverend James F. Carlyle. Burial will follow at Houston Cemetery in Houston, Mississippi at 1:00pm. Pallbearers will be Grandsons. Honorary Pallbearers will be Jerry Hart, Greg Widmer, Dennis Irwin and John Hendrix. Dr. Hitt will be remembered by colleagues and students as a master wit, teacher, and administrator; by many friends as a pretty good golfer at Green Oaks; and by his family as a world-class husband, brother, father, and grandfather. Memorials may be sent to Operation Ukraine at 419 8th Street South, Columbus, MS 39701.