Promoted to Glory: Lt. Colonel Robert (Jake) Tritton

Lt. Colonel Jake Tritton was Promoted To Glory on September 29, 2022. He was 82 years old.

Robert Jacob ("Jake") Tritton was born on February 23, 1940, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to James & Jeannette Tritton, who later became Salvation Army Officers. He spent much of his childhood in his beloved adopted state of Texas. He graduated in Fort Worth and went on to attend Tyler Junior College on a band scholarship. It was during his time there that he met Patsy Allison. They married on June 17, 1960—most recently celebrating 62 years of marriage.

Jake & Patsy Tritton entered the Training College as members of the Servants Of Christ Session. Commissioned in 1963, their first appointment was to Houston Temple. After a second corps appointment they left the Texas Division and did not return for nearly 33 years when Colonel Jake became divisional commander until their retirement in 2005. Hurricane Katrina brought the Trittons into post-retirement service when they were asked to serve as incident commanders for the Alabama-Louisiana-Mississippi (ALM) Gulf Coast. This marked the last of many hurricane disasters in which he served, but he considered the hardest emergency disaster responses he encountered was the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building when he was the Arkansas-Oklahoma (AOK) divisional commander.

Other appointments during his 42 years of active service included two corps posts and as divisional youth secretary in the Florida Division. He was later divisional secretary in ALM and AOK. Then it was out to the USA Western Territory as territorial youth secretary, where under his leadership the Western Youth Institute was begun and a tremendous increase in the number of candidates of Officership; one year even surpassing the number in the Southern Territory.

He returned from the West to his beloved South for a post as territorial youth secretary, and later as community relations secretary. His stints as divisional commander for AOK, North & South Carolina, and finally to Texas.

Colonel Tritton is preceded in death by his parents Majors Jim & Jeannette Tritton; and three brothers Jim, Albert, and Kenneth Tritton.

He is survived by his wife, Lt. Colonel Patsy Tritton; daughter Cammie (Stuart) Wilkinson; son Rob (Claudia) Tritton; and brother Doug (Joellen) Tritton; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.)

A Celebration of Life will be held at The Salvation Army Lakeland Corps on Saturday, October 8, 2022, with interment at Serenity Gardens cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family requests that contributions be made to The Salvation Army Lakeland Corps New Brass Instruments Fund.

—Major Frank Duracher