Leila Dickey Ritch

Leila Powell Dickey Ritch, age 103, was born April 19, 1915 to Sarah Elizabeth Davis Dickey and James Benjamin Dickey in Auburndale, Polk County, Florida. She married Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret.) R. T. Ritch.

Leila attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, and Massey Business College in Jacksonville, Florida. She was employed by the United States Air Force and assigned to the Pentagon Directorate of Intelligence in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Washington, D.C.

She was a life member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, a member of Conway Garden Club, Orlando Museum of Art and the Florida Opera Guild. Leila was a member of the St. Mary of the Angels Episcopal Church and active in St. Monica’s Guild of St. Mary of the Angels. She was a member of the Washington National Cathedral Association, Washington, D.C.

Leila was an avid gardener, a passionate Florida Gator, devoted to her family and had many friends of all ages throughout her life.

She is preceded in death by her husband, and survived by three nieces, Mrs. James V. Johnson, Jr., Mrs. Sara Jo Dickey and Mrs. James C. Edwards, and three nephews, Michael Benjamin Dickey, Christopher Dickey and James Benjamin Edwards, and two cousins, Mrs. Michael Raymond Johnson and James V. Johnson, III and her godchild, Mrs. Priscilla S. Block.