William Pitman graduated from Johnson Bible College in Kimberlin Heights, Tennessee, and Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. He was ordained a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and served at Niantic Church in Niantic, Illinois, before volunteering for military service in in 1944. He was commissioned a U.S. Army chaplain, and was one of the youngest chaplains serving during that war. After serving in the European Theater of Operations, he was transferred to inactive status after the war and returned to Illinois as pastor of Prairie Avenue Christian Church in Decatur. He served as a chaplain with the Illinois National Guard until his unit was called to active duty in 1951. He served during the Korean War, and after his combat tour remained in service as a chaplain, serving in Vietnam, and subsequently retiring as a U.S. Army colonel. After his military retirement he continued serving the church by first earning his masterÕs degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, and then as pastor of Burbank Christian Church. He and his wife served as co-directors of Marriage and Family Life for the denomination, and traveled the country leading marriage enrichment classes, grief seminars, and teaching Sex Ed for the leaders of the denomination, as well as writing curriculum for the Family Life division of the church.