Joyce E. Ritter

Joyce E. Ritter, 93, died Thursday, January 6, 2022. She was born to Henry and Maude (Bassett) Keller on July 7, 1928, rural Lebanon, Kansas.

On May 19, 1946, she married Boyd Ritter. She managed and worked for Pete’s Restaurant in Smith Center for a few years back in the 1960s. She was a homemaker and worked hard on the family farm.

Survivors include sons, Gary and wife Kathy of Hill City, South Dakota; Larry and wife Linda of Custer, South Dakota, and daughter Tonja Westerman and husband Larry of Kensington, Kansas; sisters, Lucile Clark of Esbon, Kansas, Charlotte Detwiler and husband Milton of Kensington, Kansas, seven grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Boyd, a grandson, her sister Audrey, and daughter-in-law Sandy.

Graveside Memorial Services will be held at a later date this spring at Odessa Cemetery, rural Esbon, Kansas.

Memorials are suggested to the SunPorch of Smith County in Smith Center, Kansas, where she resided since 2013, and may be sent in care of the funeral home.

Melby Mortuary of Mankato assisted the Ritter family with these arrangements, www.melbymortuary.com