May 20, 1932 – March 16, 2024
Margaret Ritchie was born in Manhattan, New York and raised along the Hudson River. She graduated early from Hastings High School in Hastings-on-Hudson in 1949, where she was president of the opera club, on the yearbook staff, in the history club, sang varsity choir, played field hockey, acted in the senior play and was named Best Musician, Most Scholarly and Most Likely to Succeed.
She graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio with a B.A. in Classical Civilization in 1953, where she volunteered as a costume seamstress for the theater productions and met the love of her life, a young actor named Harry Ritchie. As she loved to recount, they met as she measured his inseam. They married in September 1953 at her parents’ home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Soon after, they moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Harry pursued his Ph.D. in Theater. In 1955, Harry was drafted into the Army and they were stationed abroad in Frankfurt, Germany, where, in 1957 they had their first son, David. After discharge and completing school, Harry landed his first teaching position at McGill University in Montreal. While there, in 1959, they welcomed their second son, Stuart, into the world.
They spent the next 16 years raising their family near college campuses in California, Massachusetts and for a year in London, England. Over these years Margaret worked in administrative capacities and was devoted to many creative and artistic interests including gardening, knitting, figure drawing, calligraphy, singing and playing piano and guitar. She has always been thrilled that her two grandchildren carry her creative legacy forward: Elizabeth as a landscape designer and Zachary as a professional musician.
In 1975, Harry and Margaret relocated to Denver, where she earned her M.A. in Art History at the University of Denver. She worked in several art galleries before serving for 11 years as a publication editor at the Denver Art Museum. In 1995, they retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they were active in the local arts community with longtime memberships in the Santa Fe Opera and Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet.
Margaret volunteered for many years with Pro Musica, The Nature Conservancy and other local nonprofits. These years were also filled with cross-country road trips and visits to many places around the world, including Europe, South and Central America, and North Africa, as well as to Syria, Turkey and the Galapagos Islands. They were especially fond of notable historic and archaeological sites, participating in many active site digs.
After 67 years of marriage, Harry passed away in January 2020. Margaret prevailed through this loss and the dark days of COVID to relocate to Glenwood Springs in May of that year. Since then, she has been a well-loved member of the Roaring Fork Senior Living (RSFL) community, where she is fondly known for her charm and feisty independence. She passed peacefully, surrounded by family, and cared for by her friends at RFSL and Home Care and Hospice of the Valley. Margaret is dearly missed by all who had the good fortune to know her.
Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, Bob and Polly Elderfield, her only sister, Nancy, and her husband, Harry. She is survived by her sons, David (Terri) Ritchie of Carbondale and Stuart (Julie) Ritchie of Aurora, adult grandchildren, Elizabeth and Zachary, two nieces, a nephew, and two cousins. Per her wishes, a private family memorial and the internment of her and Harry’s ashes will be held this summer at the family plot in Philadelphia.
For decades, Margaret was generous to a wide variety of charities and causes, mostly supporting the arts, animals and the environment. So in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite similar cause or passion. Or just hug your pets; it would make her very happy.