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Johnnie was the first child born to the late Joe Thomas and Lillie Scott Ritchie in Samuels Kentucky on January 9, 1901. As a young boy John attended Samuels Grade School for the first and part of the second grades. He later attended night school for a short time in Louisville. John's first child was a son named Ollie Lee Ritchie.
He married the late Martha Rena Firma on April 7, 1928 and they had one daughter, Edna Mae Ritchie Fischer. They lived in Bards town until Martha died in 1934. After the death of his first wife, John and his daughter Edna Mae stayed on Charlie Wheeler's farm. Edna stayed with her Uncle Oscar and Aunt Katie for a year after her mother's death. She then returned to live with her father, John who raised her. Thus father and daughter developed a very close relationship. He taught her how to cook and keep house. He made her a stool when she was small to reach the stove and do dishes. He took her to work with him in the corn fields,. She played in the fields or in the wagon close to her father as he worked. He never left her alone. Many nights, Edna recalls they would sit by the fire as he told stories about his family, especially his brothers and sisters. She recalls many times when he shed tears talking about the past.
Martha had one daughter, Katherine Stoner McGee, who went to Louisville to live with her Aunt, after her mother died. Katherine spent many summers with her step-father and Edna Mae. John and Edna moved to Louisville in December of 1935, where he worked as a gardener and chauffeur for J.C. Parker estate in Louisville. During this time he met and married Mary Frances Miller Ritchie in 1938. Mary Frances (MA MA) had one daughter, Marion Louise Wilson Ritchie born December 9, 1936 and dies September 1, 1970.
John and his family moved to Smithfield, Kentucky in 1943. They worked and lived on the Rodman Wiley Stock Farm. Their home was always a place where many family and friends often visited. Family get togethers used to be held frequently on their farm. This was a place where many family children spent weekends and Summers. (See can you identify in back of book)
In 1952, they moved back to Louisville when John took a job on the F .W. Owens farm. 1953, John was baptized by the Reverend Samuel Young at Kenwood Baptist church in Crestwood, Kentucky. John became a faithful member and usher at the church. He was given a lifetime home on the F. W. Owen's farm. He continued maintaining the grounds and doing odd jobs for Gwen Barlow who inherited the farm after her father died. John maintained a large garden for Owen/Barlow's and his own family. He tended dairy cattle and maintained the farm. John worked for the Barlows until his health began to fail. He moved to Eminence, Kentucky and lived with his granddaughter, Robert Ann Wright until he departed this life at Kings Daughters Hospital in Shelbyville, Kentucky on Saturday, November 28, 1981. John is buried in Bards town, Kentucky.
Favorite saying: Edna Mae, (daughter) doesn't recall any. But remembers that he used to love talking about his family and old Ms. Woodruff who looked after him when he was young. Being the oldest when his mother died, he helped a lot by earning money for food for the family. Edna says that he talked about how concern he was about taking care of the family if anything happened to his father.
Favorite things to do: he loved to garden and he always took flowers to the grave sites of his deceased loved ones. He was a devoted father and loved his daughter, step-daughter, grand and great grand children dearly.
