Joseph Franklin “Joe” Ritch, Jr., died on Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Columbus, Georgia, at the age of 80. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, March 25, at 1:00 p.m. at Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, Columbus, Georgia. The family will receive friends and host a light lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the mortuary.
Born June 17, 1940, to Joseph Franklin Ritch, Sr., and Lili Yvonne LaHiff Ritch, Joe was a lifelong resident of Columbus. At age five, he lost his father to a tragic trucking accident, then spent a great deal of time over the next several years with his paternal grandparents on their farm in Upatoi, Georgia. Raised by his mother in the Wynnton area of Columbus, he attended Wynnton Elementary School. He graduated from Columbus High School and remained a proud Blue Devil throughout the rest of his life. He began working at Columbus Carpet Center on Wynnton Road in the early 1960s, and ultimately assumed ownership of the business, which became The Carpet Gallery. Joe worked hard at building and maintaining a productive and successful business and enjoyed a reputation as knowledgeable, competent, and honest. He married Brenda Wyrick on August 10, 1968, and they had two daughters, Joellyn and Valerie. He was a loving and devoted father who always made time to attend his girls’ school and extracurricular events. A lifelong Lutheran, he attended St. Matthew Lutheran Church, where he contributed his time and talents over the years serving on the church council, many committees, and as Sunday School superintendent.
From playing and learning to shoot on his grandparents’ farm to participating in Boy Scouts as a child, Joe’s path was set early to become an avid outdoorsman and sportsman. As a young man, he spent many weekends fishing in regional waters and target shooting with his good friends, Richard Noxon and Larry Litz. As a member of Muscogee Rod and Gun Club, Joe spent many, many weekends hunting and playing in the woods around Geneva, Georgia. He loved to take Brenda and the girls there to shoot, ride the dirt roads in his treasured 1975 Chevrolet Blazer, pick blackberries in the summer, ride four-wheelers for hours on end, and rest and relax. Both girls caught their first fish there one rainy afternoon on opposite sides of the same pond. Well into his later years, he continued to enjoy shotgun shooting sports, particularly skeet and sporting clays, and he traveled to different ranges around the state as an active member of Social Shooting Club. Dove hunting with his beloved Labrador Retrievers, Boots and Missy, and friend, Jim Wooldridge, was a highlight of the fall season.
Joe was preceded in death by both of his parents. He is survived and will be missed by his wife, Brenda, of Columbus, two daughters, Joellyn Story (Matthew) and Valerie Mansell (Curt), both of Cataula, Georgia, three grandchildren, Mason Mansell, Sophia Mansell, and Sawyer Story, brother-in-law, Joel Smith, and nieces and nephew, Lisa Burton, Melanie Smith, and Ray Smith, and their families. Among many friends, he will be missed especially by Richard Noxon, Norman Bone, and Jim Wooldridge, and his brother-in-law, Joel Smith.
