William James Stewart Ritchie

“Give me a problem and I’ll hand you a solution.” Those who knew William James Stewart Ritchie would agree that that motto accurately described him. William was a man of great drive and a very original, independent thinker.

For William, no challenge was impossible, and just about any desired result was within his grasp. William placed great trust in his intuition. Since that intuition generally led him in the right direction, who was he to doubt it.

      William was born on November 10, 1959 at Oban Hospital in Oban, Scotland. He was the son of William and Anne Ritchie. His childhood found him in Oban, Argyll, Scotland where he matured into the independent person he eventually became.

      William grew up with seven siblings. He had five sisters, Mary, Elaine, Jennifer, Edwina, and Adeline (predeceased), and two brothers, Archie and Stewart. William could be seen as being stubborn by his siblings. It was important to him that he was perceived as “right” when it came to his part in those typical family spats. However, this quality did not over power his caring for his family. This ability to balance his family, with his need to be seen as right, helped him to develop into a young adult while enjoying many good times with his family.

      During his grade school years, William was a very focused and serious student who actually enjoyed the challenge of many classroom problems. He was determined to succeed, and he drew upon his gifts of trust and perseverance to provide him with a competitive edge. While his first love might have been academics, William took part in shinty. He was a Boys Brigade. William delighted in projects that required planning, critical thinking and resolution. William's memorable achievements included making Scotland's National Shinty team.

      During high school, William was relentless in his pursuit of learning, especially in those subject areas that really grabbed hold of his interests. It wasn't that he didn't put forth his best efforts in all classes, but if a subject really interested him, he would eagerly put forth extra effort to learn all he could. William graduated from Oban High School in 1975. His favorite class in high school was gym.

      William's inventive side developed as he moved into his college years. When William found himself involved in an area that particularly interested him, he could organize and complete any task that was given to him and make it look as if he hadn't really needed to put forth any effort. He also pursued graduate school, earning his City and Guilds Master Carpentry and Joinery. His favorite courses were Carpentry and Joinery. His favorite professor was Professor Robinson. He graduated with honours and distinction, and earned his City and Guilds Master Carpenter from Paisley College in Glasgow, Scotland.

      William was loyal to his friends. He found that he was most in tune with people who had similar interests and thought about things much the way that he did. William sometimes had a tendency to be critical in his friendships but he was more interested in finding out what was right in a situation rather than in being mean toward others. He never intentionally set out to hurt any of his friends. William was a person who challenged others to fend for themselves and to be original in their thinking and evaluation of the outside world. While growing up, some of his best friends were Ivan Nicholson, Gus Campbell and Hugy McLean. Later in life, he became friends with Don and Wanda Warman, Cal French, Adam Stevenson, Ron Bouvier, and

Don McKichan.

      On November 16, 1979, William exchanged wedding vows with Mary Campbell at Registries Office of Oundle, Peterborough, UK. Mary's sensitivity to William's needs proved to be a wonderful influence on this man, who preferred to live in his “gut.” Mary's influence brought William to a new emotional level, one that eventually enhanced all of his other gifts and abilities. Mary was able to help William appreciate the fact that others made contributions and William became better at interacting with those around him. Because of this,

William grew as a person.

      William often neglected his own feelings in order to give to others. This was very true when it came to how he dealt with his children. He was able to hand on to each child a number of strong values. He taught them to appreciate their abilities, gave them a desire to persevere despite obstacles and set within them a drive to succeed. He had four boys, William, Scott, Andrew, and Robbie. He also had four grandchildren, Logan, Cammie, Aleah, and Noah. They were always aware of how much William loved them.

      During William's professional working years, he was at his best when working independently. It became the hallmark of his performance. William was generally able to refocus his drive and determination and readily work toward finding a way to get things done that was beneficial to himself and his co-workers. His primary occupation was carpenter. He was employed for 43 years.

For William, his outside interests and hobbies became another exercise in learning and mastering areas that interested him. He greatly enjoyed unraveling the "hows" and "whys" that lay behind his hobbies. William was always pushing himself to learn more and to stretch his knowledge base even further. He firmly believed that the more things that he knew the more control he would have over things. His favorite pursuits were fishing and ice hockey; he got Player-of-the-Year

3 years in a row.

      Watching his favorite sporting events by himself was never a problem for William. It allowed him to indulge in his own individual interpretation of the event. It was not uncommon for William to know what the right play or move “should have been,” and he would vocally address these feelings even if there was no one around to hear them. And if there were others around, he would still state his feelings and gladly debate anyone on their opposing views. In high school, William played cross country running, gymnastics and shinty. In his college years, William continued to stay active by shinty, hunting and ice hockey. Recreational sports included ice hockey and fishing. He enjoyed following his favorite sporting events. Tops on his list were ice hockey and fishing.

      Due to William's loyalty and passion for following things through to their conclusion, he found that he was a definite asset to many organizations. Once he was firmly behind a common goal, William's skills became an integral part of the planning process and the success of any project. Throughout his later years, William established and was an active member of the Moray Firth Ice Hockey Club in Inverness, Scotland. William's contributions were valued as being the “structure” person of each individual organization.

      William placed his interest wholeheartedly behind any project he took on. The “engineer” part of his personality pushed him to find out as much information as he could, to understand the practicality in a given situation. This was something that influenced his involvement in work, pleasure and volunteer activities. William was involved in serving on committees as a Certified Level 3 ice hockey coach.

      William's faith allowed him to better appreciate the gifts and opinions of others. This deepening aspect of his life helped him to accept his own feelings to a greater degree. He was a member of the Church of Scotland until he was

20 years old. During that time,

he was attending Sunday School.

      While he never set out to gain individual recognition, William did receive honors and awards. Some of his most prestigious awards included Player-of-the-Year for ice hockey.

      William's skepticism was visible when he found it necessary to place too much trust in one person. This was never clearer than when it was time for him to schedule a vacation or period of time away from his regular schedule. William loved the research aspects of planning a trip, but the actual process of relaxing was far more difficult. Still, he did manage to enjoy some time away.

Favorite vacations included any British Columbia fishing trip.

      William was a lover of animals and cherished his pets. One of William's favorites was Patch, a Border Collie dog. They were best friends for 18 years.

His family was rounded out by his cat, Blackie, and dogs, Whiskey, Max, Smokey, Buddy, and Sadie.

William's retirement finally came 6 months prior to passing. Sadly, he did not have a chance to enjoy it.

      William James Stewart Ritchie passed away on August 26, 2020 at his home, with Mary by his side. William fought a brave battle against cancer. He is survived by his loving wife: Mary; his parents: William and Anne Ritchie, his sons: William (Scheri Bennett), Scott (Daria), Andrew (Janelle), and Robert (Shaileen Campbell). He will also be greatly missed by his grandchildren: Logan, Cameron, Aleah, and Noah. Lovingly remembered by his siblings: Mary Clark, Ellen McKinnon, Jennifer Christie,

Edwina Aitkin, Archie Ritchie, and Stewart Ritchie; and predeceased by his sister: Adeline Forbef.

Services were held at Memories Funeral Home, Edmonton, Alberta.

      William James Stewart Ritchie was always drawn to what was measurable, practical and factual. He was a very competent person who expected competence from others. He could be headstrong and certain about the way things were supposed to be. He was determined in every aspect of his life and certain that he was usually right about things. He trusted his intuition over all else, even if it opposed the popular belief, and he had faith in his inner vision and speculations. He wanted to be acknowledged by others as having made a contribution to whatever he was working on.

His family and friends will miss his fierce determination, relentless innovations and analytic mind.

He leaves with all those who knew him many wonderful memories.

* * * * * * * * * *

It is with great sadness that the family of William Ritchie announces his passing on Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at the age of 60 years.

He will be greatly missed by his loving wife, Mary; his parents, William and Anne Ritchie; and his sons, William (Scheri Bennett), Scott (Daria), Andrew (Janelle), and Robert (Shaileen Campbell). He will also be greatly missed by his grandchildren, Logan, Cameron, Aleah, and Noah. Lovingly remembered by his siblings, Mary Clark, Elaine McKinnon, Jennifer Christie, Edwina Aitkin, Archie Ritchie, and Stewart Ritchie; and was predeceased by his sister, Adeline Forbes.

William earned his City and Guilds Master Carpenter College Degree, and worked as a Carpenter throughout the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada for over twenty years. After many years, he started his own business, ‘ScotCan Construction’, a name chosen to reflect his Scottish heritage and Canadian home.

William loved fishing and spending time with his family. He was passionate about Hockey, having played for many years eventually gaining his level 3 coaching certificate in his homeland of Scotland. Together with his wife Mary, he established a Hockey club in the town of Inverness which included 3 teams of three different age levels. His commitment to family and love of Hockey inspired many a trip through Europe, eventually bringing him to earnestly coach and mentor his four sons in the sport. William touched many lives and will be deeply missed by family, friends, and all that knew him.

Due to the Covid 19 restrictions, a private family gathering will be held.