Ritchie Laymon

Ritchie Margaret Laymon (October 7, 1944 – April 10, 2025) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to her late parents Kenneth and Dorothy Jean Andrew, and grew up and attended college in Brooklyn as well. She is survived by her husband Ronald Laymon.

Ritchie was originally named after her paternal Scottish grandmother Margaret Ritchie. But given her highly energetic and independent nature her parents soon realized that in no way was she a staid and serious “Margaret” and switched her first and middle names. And so she became “Ritchie” with a “t”.

As time went by it became increasingly obvious that the switch was a wise decision though there was the occasional invitation from the college ROTC that “Mr. Ritchie M. Andrew” consider joining up, followed up by similarly addressed admonitions from the Draft Board to provide the required registration.

After graduating from Brooklyn College she married Ron Laymon, whom she met in a speech class, and joined him in Chicago where he was pursuing a PhD in philosophy.

Ritchie had a great lust for travel and as an undergraduate worked several summers in the travel industry and so continued working as a travel agent in Chicago and eventually Columbus, Ohio once Ron obtained a position in the Philosophy Department at Ohio State.

Eventually Ritchie decided that her calling in life was to pursue the cause of animal rights and their welfare for which she became nationally known for her energetic pursuit of various rescue and legislative efforts. That led to her creation of a local charity the purpose of which was to assist inner city residents with their dogs, cats and other critters. This continued to grow eventually to the point that Ritchie and her cohort were helping nearly 80 inner city families in ways that went far beyond the original focus.

But then Alzheimer’s struck and all of this came to an end. There remained nevertheless an enduring distillation of personality: her extraordinarily empathetic and loving nature, with her quick wit and ready smile as accompaniment. Whatever the loss, this was still Ritchie.

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