|
 Mary
Douglass Ritz Risser, 81, of Millersville, PA passed away at her
home on Friday, February 4, 2011 after a long illness.
On September 2, 1929, in a big
white farmhouse along Route 24 between Rhinely and Winterstown,
York County, Mary Douglass Ritz was born to Theo Jeanette Douglass
Ritz and John W. Ritz, a veteran of the 28th Division who was
wounded in the Argonne Forest in WWI. As a four year old, with the
help of her beloved grandfather, John Douglass, who was a fiddle
player for dances, Mary earned her first dollar skinning out and
stretching a weasel for the one dollar state bounty. Later that
year, when Mary was still only four years old, her thirty-year-old
mother died of tuberculosis. In 1935, her father remarried, and
they went to live in Blymire Hollow with her father's family. At
the height of the Great Depression, her grandfather Clinton Ritz
had a massive stroke, and so the family moved again.
They moved to Red Lion and rented
a three-story house on High Street for fifteen dollars a month
with one cold water faucet. Mary was graduated from Red Lion High
in 1947 and entered nurses training at St. Joseph's Hospital
School of Nursing from which she was graduated in 1950.
On January 14,1951, Mary married
the love of her life, Peter Hershey Risser, who served four years
on the minesweeper USS Strive during the invasion of Anzio, the
invasion of Southern France, the Normandy invasion, Okinawa, and
for the clearing of mines for the USS Missouri to go in for the
surrender of Japan. Peter Risser died March 5, 2009.
Mary and Peter had two dearly
loved children, Erica Lisa Runkles, wife of Dane H. Runkles,
Conestoga, PA and Peter Philip Risser, Duncannon, PA and a
precious grandson, Anton Risser Runkles.
Mary stayed in touch with her
treasured friends from high school, nursing, and teaching, and
they were there for her always.
Mary loved all living things
except ticks, fleas, voles, and mosquitoes. She especially loved
her six fish ponds with humongous Koi, her five dogs: Dorothy
Beagle, Veronica, Joop, Dudley, and Hamish and her cats: Ralph,
and Ethel. Mary had a special afffinity for snakes and frogs, and
once saved the life of a green frog that a snake had already
swallowed the frogs's hind leg and part of its butt. Mary grabbed
the snake and gently took the frog out of the snakes's mouth.
Limpy had a happy summer, and the garter snake was trucked off to
the Little Conestoga.
In later years, Peter and Mary, as
independent travellers, traveled through the Canadian Maritimes,
the Hawaiian Islands, Scotland, Switzerland, Bermuda, Aruba,
France, Italy, Istanbul, and Greece.
In 1967, after being graduated
from Millersville, Mary began teaching eighth graders in the
Hempfield School District. In 1974, Mary completed her master's
degree with honors, doing her thesis on Emily Dickinson. After
retirement, Mary edited the literary magazine,
Expressions, for Landisville Middle School. At the
time of her death she still held her nursing license.
Mary will be laid to rest beside
her beloved husband in Mount Pleasant Lutheran Cemetery, Rhinely,
just a stone's throw from the big white farmhouse where she was
born. Friends will be received on Saturday, February 12, 2011
from 10-11AM at the Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home & Crematory,
441 N. George St., Millersville, PA, with the service to follow at
11AM. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions in Mary's
memory to Hospice of Lancaster County, 685 Good Drive, Box 4125,
Lancaster, PA 17604-4125. To send an online condolence, please
visit: SnyderFuneralHome.com. Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home &
Crematory, 872-5041 |
