Clyde H. Ritter

Oct. 23, 2012

Clyde H. Ritter, 87, a resident of Mountain Top, died Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012, in Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, following a lengthy illness.

Mr. Ritter was born in Wilkes-Barre, son of the late Roy and Anna Smith Ritter and was a graduate of the Class of 1943, James M. Coughlin High School, Wilkes-Barre. He proudly entered the service in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served at Sampson, N.Y., and aboard the USS Shamrock Bay and Com Air Pac as a yeoman first class. He received the European, Pacific and American Theater Ribbons, the Philippine Liberation Medal and the Victory Medal. Following his military service, he went to Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1950. Since that time, he had been employed as the Transportation Outlook Section Head of the Supply and Transportation Department of Exxon and Exxon International in N.Y., N.J. and Texas. He also had a special assignment through Exxon International as an oil transportation specialist with NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He retired in 1982 after more than 30 years with Exxon. He moved to Mountain Top in 1989.

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre, and had been an elder and member of the session of the church.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by brothers, George A. and John Ritter. The family would like to thank the medical staff at Geisinger for their love and attention and wish to extend a special thanks to Mountain Top Senior Care and Rehabilitation Center for all that they did for Clyde.

Surviving are his wife of 61 years, Jane Booth Ritter, at home; sons, David L. Ritter, Mountain Top; John S. and Carolyn Ritter, Waterbury, Vt.; Mark E. and Petra Ritter, Munich, Germany; grandchildren, Jacob Ritter, Pascalle Banaszek, Sarah and Niklas Ritter and Silvio Katona; sisters, Rosemary Ritter, Wilkes-Barre; Lorrain Mersfelder, Edwardsville; brother, Roy and Lucienne Ritter, Baltimore, Md.; several nieces and nephews.

A Memorial Service will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at the H. Merritt Hughes Funeral Home Inc., a Golden Rule Funeral Home, 451 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, with the Rev. Dr. Robert Zanicky, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre, officiating. Private interment will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Hanover Township, at the convenience of the family. Friends may call Sunday from noon until time of service.

The family requests that flowers are omitted and that memorial donations in Mr. Ritter's name be made to First Presbyterian Church, 97 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 or to the Commission on Economic Opportunity, 165 Amber Lane, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702.