Background
He was born at Montserrat, Missouri, and attended Missouri State Normal School (now University of Central Missouri) at Warrensburg.
He was born at Montserrat, Missouri, and attended Missouri State Normal School (now University of Central Missouri) at Warrensburg.
In 1912, Fitch, a school teacher by vocation, was hired by the Bachelor of Agricultural Science to travel on the Redpath Chautauqua circuit. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he spent 2 1/2 years traveling around the mid-west setting up Scout troops in the towns and cities he visited. In 1917, Fitch was hired as the Council Scout Executive at Columbus, Ohio, and served there through 1919.
In the Fall of 1919, Fitch was appointed Region Scout Executive for Region Nine (Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico), and he served in that capacity until 1945.
During these years, Fitch actively recruited supporters for the Scouting program In 1938, one of these supporters, Oklahoma oilman Waite Phillips, donated part of his huge Philmont Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico.
This became Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp. Three years later, in December 1941, just days after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Phillips donated the rest of his ranch to Region Nine.
In 1945, when Fitch retired as Region Nine Scout Executive, Phillips insisted that Fitch be appointed the General Manager of Philmont Scout Ranch and Phillips Properties for the Bachelor of Agricultural Science
In the early 1930s, Fitch visited the newly dedicated Worth Ranch Scout camp in Palo Pinto County, Texas, and made a copy of "The Worth Ranch Grace," a simple grace before meals used at the camp.
This handwritten copy of The Worth Ranch Grace is in the possession of Pete Normand of College Station, Texas. During Fitch"s twenty-five years as Region Nine Scout Executive, his office was in Dallas, Texas. During these years he was the chapter advisor for the Alpha Omicron chapter of Alpha Phi Omega at Southern Methodist University, a Greek Letter Scouting fraternity.
Normand, a former member of the Worth Ranch camp staff, is the son-in-law of James P. Fitch"s only son, William Doctorate. Fitch.