Mrs Sheila Ritchie

MRS Sheila Ritchie, of Strangford Road, Downpatrick, who has died aged 91, was a kind, generous and warm-hearted woman, who touched and enriched the lives of the many people who were fortunate to have known her.

Mrs Ritchie passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her loving family, who she adored and who were such a great delight and comfort to her in her later years. She was the widow of Dr Billy Ritchie, the distinguished and fondly remembered Downpatrick general practitioner.

Mrs Ritchie was born Henrietta Margaret Comyns on September 21, 1925, the younger of two children born to Dick and Eva. Tragedy struck the family early on when her father died when she was just six weeks old. Even so, she had a happy childhood growing up in Belfast.

After her education at Strathearn School and Victoria College, she did nursing training at the Royal Victoria Hospital and later trained as a midwife in England. After working in Liverpool she returned to the Royal Victoria Hospital and became a casualty sister.

It was at the Royal where she met her future husband, whom she married on May 26, 1955.

The couple soon moved to Downpatrick and were blessed with two children, Heather and John.

As the wife of a country doctor Mrs Ritchie supported her husband in his practice, which he had set up his brother, John, and at Downpatrick Cricket Club, where he was president for many years.

At the same time she immersed herself in many other aspects of town life. She was a faithful member of Downpatrick Presbyterian Church, of which she was to become an elder, and was also a member of Downpatrick Women’s Institute and a Justice of the Peace.

The death of her beloved husband in 1986 was a terrible blow for Mrs Ritchie and she was to suffer more heartbreak when her son, John, died in 2004. Buoyed by her undiminished Christian faith, her strength of character and the love of her family, she managed to cope with her losses.

She took great delight in her four granddaughters and was thrilled to be at two of their weddings. She was equally thrilled when she became a great grandmother in 2015.

Though she suffered from osteoporosis in later years and became wheelchair-bound, she never lost her spark or her thirst for life. At family gatherings and celebrations she was the centre of attention and was never without a kindly word or a smile. With the support and love of her family and dedicated carers, she lived at home until her end came peacefully.

The large attendance at her funeral service in Downpatrick Presbyterian Church on Friday, July 7, was testament to the admiration, respect and love in which she was held. The service was conducted the Rev Ernie Boggs, a former minister of the congregation.

The sympathy of the community is extended to her daughter, Heather, son-in-law Lindsay, granddaughters Lucy, Fiona, Flora and Sophie, sons-in-law Conor and James, great grandson Max and the wider family circle.