Margaret Ann Stewart Ritter

RITTER Margaret Ann Stewart Ritter, 91, died November 8, 2006, in Richmond, Virginia. She was born February 8, 1915, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the eldest daughter of Robert Roy Stewart and Consuelo Viola Blackman. Margaret's father died in 1921, and her widowed mother moved the family to Dunnville, Ontario, where they lived until her mother remarried in 1929. Margaret and the family then moved to the United States, where she attended schools in New Jersey, and graduated from New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College, a part of Rutgers University) in 1936 with a bachelors degree in Library Science. She worked briefly in the local library upon graduation, and in 1937 married Irvin John Kendig Ritter, who died in January 1978. Margaret became a U.S. Citizen and lived in many locations over the years, including Parkersburg, W.Va. and Dordrecht, The Netherlands. She traveled extensively in the U.S. and Europe, sailed the Atlantic on the M.S. Statendam and the QE2, visited Russia and Chile, and made frequent trips to Canada to visit her family. She was active in community groups, including church organizations, garden clubs, the American Association of University Women, and PEO. She loved music, literature, gardening, nature, and the family dogs, but her passion was her family. She took great pleasure in their lives and accomplishments, and was a great support to each of them. Margaret and Irvin had four children, all of whom survive her, David Robert Ritter of Richmond, Carol Ann Ritter and husband, Don Williams, of Newark, Del., Linda June Ritter and husband, Gary Morrison of Chesapeake, Va. and Constance Susan Ritter of Arlington, Va. Margaret is also survived by four grandchildren, David R. Treadwell III, Jonathan R. Treadwell, Jennifer R. Morrison, and Keegan G. Morrison; and by three great-grandchildren. Also surviving are Margaret's brothers, Robert Theodore Stewart and wife, Mary Louise, of Martinsburg, W.Va., and Richard Hudson Stelle and wife, Margaret, of Tyler, Texas; and sisters, Barbara Stell Costello of Falls Church, Va., and Virginia Stelle Kopetz of Metuchen, N.J. She is also survived by her beloved standard Schnauzer, Roxie. The family will receive friends on Friday, November 10, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Chippenham Chapel of Bliley Funeral Home, 6900 Hull Street Road, Richmond, where a funeral service will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Parkersburg, W.Va., where a private graveside service will be held. Leavitt Funeral Home, 403 7th Street, Parkersburg is managing arrangements there. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 815 East Grace Street, Richmond, Va. 23219, or to Trinity Episcopal Church, 430 Juliana Street, Parkersburg, W.Va. 26101.