Dad was many things to many people.   He was a businessman, a boss, a doctor, a political conservative, a friend, a hunting buddy, a golf buddy, and a husband.  To me, he was just Daddy.

I was born March 2, 1957.   Hugh and Harriette were not able to conceive and have their own natural children so I was adopted at 6 weeks of age on April 15, 1957.  Dad would forever after refer to me as his little tax deduction.   I had flaming red hair so he called me carrot top.  At least until it all fell out and I was bald just like Daddy.   His favorite nickname for me was Dolly.   He said he would hold me and I looked like a little china doll.  That nickname stuck with me all my life and he called me Dolly the last time I spoke with him the day before he died.  

They never adopted any more children after that.   I could be conceited and say how could they top perfection but it was actually my mother's dad's illness that kept them from adopting other children.  So, I became an only child.  

I have so many fond memories of my Daddy.   Sitting in the basement watching slides (he never took print pictures) for hours on end.  Going down in his workshop and watching him make things out of wood.   He taught me to reload shotgun shells at a very young age - 410/28/20/12 guage.   Building model airplanes (OK, I was somewhat of a tomboy).  Racing the cars on the racetrack he built me.   He offered me a dollhouse or a racetrack - I chose the racetrack.   My daughter, Jennifer, chose the dollhouse some 30 year later which he also built for her.   Going to the gun club in Pacific (which I thought was a thousand miles away) and trying my best to shoot that 28 guage with the specially designed stock just for me.   Going fishing with him.   Playing golf on Sunday afternoons at Old Warson - I referred to it as the Sunday afternoon death march - it would take 4 or 5 hours for a round of golf.   He and I could play 2 balls each on a Tuesday at 4 pm 18 holes in 2 hours.  Sitting in a duck blind with my camera.  Lazy Sundays at a pig roast.

The memories have come flooding back at this time of loss.  Yes, Daddy, you were many things to many people.   But you were just Daddy to me.   I'm the only one who got you as Daddy.   And those are the memories I will cherish and take with me for the rest of my life.   Memories of the greatest Daddy in the whole world!   I love you so much and miss you so.   Be at peace now my wonderful Daddy.   I hope there is a championship golf course in Heaven cos I know that is where you will be.  

Namaste!

Love,   Lisa            

Harriette passed away at age 70 from Alzheimer's Disease in August of 1995 after an 8 year battle.   Dad remained by her side the entire time.   Mom spent the last two years of her life in a nursing home facility.  Dad went over to see her every day.   They were married for 46 years.

A couple of months after Harriette's death, Dad underwent surgery to correct his mitral valve.  During his hospital stay (he was a great doctor but a horrible patient), he decided it was time for him to retire - he was 71.   Due to the high cost of medical malpractice insurance, he had given up delivering babies (his true calling in medicine) a number of years earlier.   Age gets to us all and he started having difficulties getting up in the middle of the night to go to a delivery so his younger partners took on that role.

 

Dad's life dream was to become a doctor.  He choose his specialty in OB-GYN during his internship and went on to deliver over 10,000 babies during his distinguished career.   It was hard to go anywhere in St. Louis and not meet one of Daddy's babies.  

In addition to his busy practice originally with Bernie Gerwitz and then solo and later in partnership with his brother Paul Ritter and others, Dad was very active in medical politics.  He served not only locally in the St Louis Metropolitan Medical Society but also in Missouri State medical politics.   He went on to serve on the Board of Trustees for the American Medical Association for 9 years.   He and my mother were privileged to travel all over the world with the fine group of people of the AMA.  That was an experience my father treasured.

He did find some time for hobbies as well.  Dad was an avid hunter and skeet shooter.   His love of hunting goes back to before I was born.   Pheasant hunting in North Dakota, duck and goose hunting in St. Charles, deer hunting, and big game hunting out in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming.   When he wasn't out hunting, Daddy was doing competitive skeet shooting all over the United States.   He treasured his many skeet shooting and hunting buddies - many his lifelong friends.

He eventually had won so many skeet titles, he decided to try something more challenging - GOLF.......    Dad pursued that hobby with a passion and an obsession for over 30 years.   His handicap got as low as 7 or 8 when he was at his best.   He never tired of this sport and would play as often as he could.  One of his saddest moment in his elder years was when he had to give up golf for health reasons.  
    

Daddy was born August 30, 1924, the oldest son of Hubert Christian Ritter and Louise Laipple Ritter in St. Charles, MO.   He has a younger sister, Louise Ritter Blackwood, and a younger brother, Paul Ritter.

Hugh attended school in St Charles and graduated from St. Charles High School around 1942.   He then attended Westminister College in Fulton, MO, and received his MD degree from St. Louis University around 1948.   He served in the United States Navy as a First Lieutenant stationed in Monterey, California, and Chincoteague, Virginia.  

Hugh married Harriette Louise Hudson in February, 1949, in a small afternoon ceremony in Brownsville, TN.