KERNERSVILLE — Deacon Ronald Timothy “Deacon Tim” Ritchey, 75, of Walkertown, N.C., passed away peacefully Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Holy Cross Church with Father Noah Carter, pastor, officiating. The family will receive visitors starting at 10 a.m. prior to the Mass at the church, located at 616 S. Cherry St. in Kernersville.
Inurnment and a committal service with military honors was held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, at the Holy Cross Columbarium.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Deacon Ritchey was born on Sept. 17, 1946, the son of William Earl Ritchey and Regina Paulina McGoldrick Ritchey, both deceased. He was the husband of 55 years to Rory Ann Gould Ritchey.
He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and he was a volunteer firefighter and a chaplain for the Colorado State Patrol, Thornton Police Department, and Northglenn Ambulance Service.
Deacon Ritchey was ordained in 1989 for the Archdiocese of Denver, where he served until moving to the Diocese of Charlotte in 2004. He had the great honor of assisting at the World Youth Day Mass in Colorado with former Pope St. John Paul II.
He served at Holy Cross Church from October 2007 to present. Over the years, he served the Church and Holy Cross Parish in numerous ways – baptismal
preparation, RCIA, marriage preparation, nursing home and hospital visits, funeral services – as well as serving in prison ministry and as a police chaplain, and in ministry to the deaf.
He passed peacefully at Holy Cross Church and was surrounded by the people he loved.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Fredrick Randy Ritchey.
Survivors include his wife Rory Ann; two sons, William James Ritchey and wife, Julie, and Shawn Michael Ritchey and wife, Harlee; grandchildren Dalene Ritchey, Michael Ritchey and wife, Casey, Savannah Ritchey, and Piper Ritchey; great grandchildren Alexandria, Kylie, Maddy and Ramey-Lynne; and two sisters, Pamela Ritchey, and Francine Honeycutt.
Pierce-Jefferson Funeral & Cremation Services is in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald