CARTER COUNTY, TN - OBITUARIES - Willie Ritchie, 6 Mar 2000
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Willie Ritchie 
3/8/00 

  Willie Ritchie, 90, 1558 Highway 91, Elizabethton, died Monday, March 
6, 2000, at Johnson City Medical Center following an extended illness. 
  Mr. Ritchie was a native of Carter County and a son of the late Stanford 
and Sarah Grindstaff Ritchie. He was also preceded in death by a son, Shona 
Ritchie, September 17, 1988. 
  Mr. Ritchie was a retired electrician and a member of the International 
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 934, Kingsport. He was a member of 
Unaka Baptist Church. 
  Survivors include his wife, Florence Crowder Ritchie; a son and daughter-
in-law, Wayne and Geraldine Ritchie, Elizabethton; a daughter, Janet Staats, 
Pittsburgh, Pa.; three sisters, Bonnie Mae Ritchie, Lottie Taylor and Helen 
Smith, all of Elizabethton; six grandchildren, Michael Ritchie, Mark Ritchie, 
Patrick Ritchie, Lisa Berch, Cathy Hughes and Charles Ritchie; and seven 
great-grandchildren, Matthew Ritchie, Brittney Berch, Nathan Berch, Brock 
Berch, Dale Summerlin, Paul Summerlin and Shan Summerlin. 
  Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. 

  RITCHIE -- Funeral services for Willie Ritchie, 90, 1558 Highway 91, 
Elizabethton, who died Monday, March 6, 2000, will be conducted at 8 p.m. 
Wednesday, March 8, at Memorial Funeral Chapel with Dr. Max Bayard 
officiating. Graveside services and interment will be conducted at 11 a.m. 
Thursday, March 9, in the Ritchie Cemetery with Mr. Gary Arnold officiating. 
Active pallbearers, who are requested to assemble at the cemetery at 10:50 
a.m. Thursday, will be Ernest "Gebe" Ritchie, Melville Cole, Arlie Webb, 
Benny Webb, Wayne Peters, Jimmy Eggers, Terry Oliver, Glen Davis, Gary 
Arnold and Joe Williams. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. 
Wednesday at the funeral home. Friends may also call at the residence. 
Family and friends will assemble at the cemetery at 10:50 a.m. Thursday. 
Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. 

*Note by Julia Williams Kodak:  I had the privledge of meeting Mr. Willie 
Ritchie when I called him one day to interview him for some Creed research I 
was doing.  He was a delightful man, full of vinegar and eager to tell me all 
he could about his family.  Mr. Ritchie was raised by his grandmother after 
his mother died when he was about eight years of age.  His grandparents wer 
Elbert M. and Josephine Creed Ritchie, daughter of William Creed and Rebecca 
Heatherly.  Elbert was the son of Andrew Ritchie and Sarah Jenkins.  William 
Creed came to Carter County from North Carolina.  He ran a store at Carter 
Depot and during the Civil War, a wandering soldier came in the store one day 
and fatally shot William.  The soldier later died in prison for his crime.  
Willie and I teased as to whether or not he was a Yankee or a Rebel soldier.  
He said for many years his grandmother kept the garments William was wearing 
when shot and bearing a bullet hole.  Although they were usually kept in a 
chest, he said at one point they disapeared. For more information about
either the Creed or Ritchie family, contact me at Jkodak@aol.com