My dearest mother, Mary Frances Ritchie Ricketson, age 91 years, two months & one day picked up her angel wings and ascended to heaven on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at Vitality Living on St. Simons Island, Georgia after a short illness. Mary was formerly of Alma, Georgia and before that Akron, Ohio.

She started her life on a cold, blustery, snowy day on January 9th, 1933, in Akron, Ohio and was the only child of her parents. She was the light of their lives. She was born at home after a long labor. Her father administered the ether to her mother. According to the doctor, both mother and father succumbed to the ether and the doctor had to care for her father also.

She grew up in Canal Fulton, Ohio and graduated from Canal Fulton High School in 1951 with honors. All her classmates wanted her answers to the tests. After high school, she started working in the secretarial pool at Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. There, she met the love of her life, Earl Ricketson, whom she lovingly called Rick.

With her first several paychecks she purchased a piano and a 1951 Pontiac. Earl and Mary married on April 23rd, 1955, at St. Phillip and James Catholic Church in Canal Fulton. They honeymooned in Alma, Georgia on the way to Florida. In 1961, she delivered her only child Diane Marie Ricketson Mitchell, in Akron, Ohio. Diane was delivered six weeks early after Mary fell after mowing the grass. Earl was in Alma digging his grandmother's grave, Vince Louvenia Henderson at Wolf Pit Church. He had to be called back to Akron because the doctor told them that the premature Diane wouldn't live. Diane proved the doctor wrong.

The happy couple lived in Akron for the next 16 years where Mary attended the University of Akron and obtained her teaching degree in 1964.

She taught second grade at Margaret Park Elementary School while in Akron. In 1972, she and Earl moved their household to Alma. She continued to teach at Nicholls High School in Nicholls, Georgia. She started out teaching second grade then she taught a reading lab and then taught a math lab at Nicholls High School. All those she taught were her adopted children whom she loved very much. Many of them gave her some wonderful memories. She retired from teaching in 2008 after 44 years of teaching. She was member of the National Education Association.

Preceding her in death was her husband of 32 years, Earl Monroe Ricketson, her parents, James and Magdalen Ritchie, her mother-in-law, Grace Rigdon, her father-in-law, Marvin Luther Ricketson and his second wife Guinevere, her brothers-in-law, Marvin Luther Ricketson, Jr., who was delivered in Akron, Ohio by the same doctor as she was, William "Bill" Bartow Ricketson, Jack Aaron Ricketson, Roy Turner, James Watson, and Ervin Harris. Sister-in-laws Margaret Lou Ricketson Harris, Martha Ann Rigdon Watson, and Alva Laverne Rigdon Lairsey.

Survivors include her beloved daughter, Diane Marie Ricketson Mitchell of St. Simons Island, Georgia, her son-in-law, Guy Andy Mitchell, and the apple of her eyes, her most loved only grandchild, Olivia Jane Mitchell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her sisters-in-law, Gertha Lee Rigdon Brubaker, and husband Robert of Cuyahoga Falls, OH, Latrelle Rigdon Turner of Jacksonville, Florida, Shirley Marie Rigdon Davis and husband Leon of Blackshear, Georgia, Barbara Flynn Ricketson of Lugoff, South Carolina, and Doris Jenkins of Chase City, Virginia. Many cousins, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews, and all her students. Special cousins Larka-Lee Jones Kern of Tempe, Arizona and Theodora DePeugh Schultz of Beaufort, South Carolina and Velma Barnes Rigby of Nicholls, Georgia. A special friend Joan Holland Taylor of Nicholls, Georgia and all her teacher friends and co-workers.

She was a woman of many talents. She had the patience of Moses, the faith of Abraham, the endurance of Noah, the devotion of Daniel, the perseverance of Job, the value of friendship of Ruth and Naomi, standing on her own like Esther, and the Virgin Mary's love.

Her love of horses and dogs started in her early years. She had her first horse when she was 13 years old. Over the years, she was the owner of many horses that she raised and trained. One story she told was that when she was a young girl, she asked to ice skate and was told it was too dangerous, but she could have a horse instead.

She was an excellent seamstress, making clothes for not only herself but her daughter and granddaughter over the years. She also made Diane's Barbie doll clothes. She could look at a garment and make an exact pattern of that garment and sew an exact copy. She could also make clothing without using patterns.

She will be greatly missed, but God's will has been done.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 2:00 pm at Douglas Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Nicholls, Georgia with the Rev. Charles Hutcheson officiating. Interment will follow in Douglas Family Cemetery. The family will be receiving friends at Crosby's Funeral Home in Alma, Georgia Friday evening (March 15, 2024) from 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Active pallbearers will be David Taylor, Billy Ray Dyal, Wendell Hart, Bobby Hart, Tim Gilliard, and Greg Turner. Honorary escorts are the 1951 graduating class of Canal Fulton High School, faculty and staff of Nicholls High School, and all of her students. All those in attendance will be considered honorary escorts.

Crosby Funeral Home in Alma, GA will oversee the arrangements.