Alice Ritchie

6/8/1938 - 8/21/2024

Chestertown, Md. - Alice Saulnier Ritchie, aged 86, died of pancreatic cancer Aug. 21, 2024, in Chestertown, Md. Born June 8, 1938, in New York City, she grew up in the Morningside Heights neighborhood on the Upper West Side. Alice was the daughter of Raymond J. and Estelle Siegel Saulnier.

She is survived by her three children, Sarah Clark Stuart, Warren Clark III (Johanna Phillips-Clark), and Hope Elizabeth Clark (Craig McSparran); and four grandchildren: Marina Estelle Stuart, Emily Dillon Clark, Amelia Flora Stuart and John Christian Clark. She was married to Lyell H. Ritchie, who died in 2004, for 25 years. She was previously married to Warren Clark Jr., who died in 2018.

Alice graduated from the Northfield School in 1956, and attended Vassar College from 1956 to 1958. She earned a B.A. from George Washington University in 1971, a M.L.S from Catholic University in 1973, and a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1985. She practiced as an assistant public defender for Talbot County and a Deputy State's Attorney for Kent County. After 1996, she had a solo practice in family law and was a staff attorney for ten years with the Child Advocacy Project of the Eastern Shore (C.A.P.E.S.). She was also appointed as a child's attorney by the Circuit Courts of Kent and Wicomico Counties to represent children in domestic or adoption cases.

Alice was an active member of Chestertown community, including as a president of the Kent County Library Board of Trustees, a board member of the Kent County United Way and as a member of the Vestry of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Chestertown RiverArts Board and the Historical District Commission.

She found great joy in a variety of activities, including quilting, playing bridge and playing golf. She was an avid reader of fiction and mysteries. Later in life, she rekindled her love for making art, displaying her works in pastel in the Chestertown RiverArts studio tours. She loved exploring different cultures and cuisines when living in Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Egypt and Sri Lanka throughout her two marriages.

Alice resided in New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Md., and abroad before she and her husband Lyell Ritchie settled on the Eastern Shore in Chestertown. She lived on a small farm off Broad Neck Road for 30 years before moving into town to Queen Street. She enjoyed many summers over six decades on Mason's Island in Mystic, with her children, grandchildren and extended family.