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Visitation:
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at Holland
Barry & Bennett Funeral Home
Masonic Rites: 3:45 p.m.
Tuesday at the funeral home
Service:
11 a.m. Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at the funeral
home
Funeral home: Holland Barry & Bennett Funeral
Home
Obituary
Ronald Raymond Ritchhart, 93, of
Lincoln, passed away in Lincoln. On Thursday, June
22, 2023.
Funeral services for Ron will be at 11 a.m.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at Holland Barry & Bennett
Funeral Home. Burial will follow in New Union
Cemetery with Full Military Rites performed by the
American Legion Post 263. Visitation will be from 4
p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, 2023, also at the
funeral home with Masonic Rites at 3:45 p.m.
Ron was born January 16, 1930, in Lincoln, the son
of Harold and Wilma (Shay) Ritchhart. He married
Joan C. Gehlbach on June 1, 1958. She preceded him
in death March 15, 2000.
He is survived by two sisters, Pat Shay Lockenauer
and Janet “Pete” Luckhart, and two special friends,
Rhoda Holland and Martha Holland. “Uncle Ronnie” was
an uncle to thirty nieces and nephews, fifty-two
great nieces and nephews, sixty-three great-great
nieces and nephews, and one great-great-great niece.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers
Harold Robert Ritchhart, Aaron Lee Ritchhart, Jackie
Den Ritchhart, and sisters Norma Jean Berglin and
Nancy Curry Treatch.
A Lincoln resident most of his life, Ron graduated
from Lincoln Community High School in 1948 and from
Western Illinois University in 1957. He received a
master’s degree in education administration from the
University of Northern Colorado. After his freshman
year in college, Ron proudly served his country in
the United States Navy for four years aboard the USS
Midway Aircraft during the Korean War. |
Mr. Ritchhart was a teacher, and football, basketball, and track
coach in Naponset, Illinois and a teacher football and basketball coach, Dean of
Students, and Principal of Lincoln Community High School, where he retired in
1985.
He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, a lifetime member
of the American Legion Post 263, the VFW post 1756, Lincoln Masonic Lodge,
Scottish Rite of Springfield, Ansar Shrine of Springfield, Royal Order of
Jesters, Lincoln Elks Club #914, and the Lincoln Logan County Shrine Club. He
was a founding member of the Tin Lizzie Patrol Unit for the Logan County Shrine
Club, and Past President of the Illinois Secondary Principal’s Association.
Upon his retirement from the high school, Ron became the Recorder at the Ansar
Shrine temple in Springfield. He was a former member of the Police and Fire
Commission for Lincoln and the Logan County Cemetery Maintenance Board.
Ron enjoyed boating and fishing on the Illinois River, especially at Matanza
Beach near Havana, and the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. He
enjoyed spending time in the winter months in Ft. Myers, Florida after his
retirement from the Shrine.
Memorial donations may be made in Ron's name to the Shriner's Hospital for
Crippled Children and will be accepted at the funeral home.
Click here to send a note of condolence to the family of Ronald Raymond
Ritchhart
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