Obit: Ritter, Bruce W. (1943 - 1961)

Contact: Kent Alexander
Email: skalex@yahoo.com

Surnames: Ritter, Stickert, Schrieber

----Sources: Family Clippings

AREA YOUTH IS KILLED IN FALL Bruce Ritter, Chili, Victim of Accident

Bruce W. Ritter, 18, of Chili, was fatally injured yesterday when he fell from a scaffold to the ground while he and a crew of workmen for the Willis Stickert Roofing Company of Chili were shingling a barn.

The youth was brought to St. Joseph's Hospital after the accident and died there at 6:30 a.m. today.

Marathon County Coroner H. A. Lambert, Edgar, was still investigating circumstances of the accident at 1:00 o'clock this afternoon and said he would have no further statement until the investigation is completed.

Additional details of the accident were not available.

Ritter's body will repose at the Hansen Funeral Home here from Saturday evening until 11 a.m. Monday, when it will be taken to Christ Lutheran Church at Chili. Services will be held there at 2 p.m. Monday, with the Rev. L. E. Schreiber officiating. Burial will be made in Yolo cemetery.

Bruce was born in Marshfield March 9, 1943 and had lived in Chili all his life. He attended elementary school in that community and Senior High School in Marshfield. Following graduation in June of this year, he was employed by the Stickert Company.

He was a member of Christ Lutheran Church at Chili, and a past president of the church Walther League. He also had been a 4-H Club member.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Ritter, a brother, Gordon, 13, and a sister, Pamela, 11, both of the home, and his paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ritter, Withee.

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Responses

Re: Obit: Ritter, Bruce W. (1943 - 1961)

Contact: Kent Alexander
Email: skalex@yahoo.com

Surnames: Ritter, Lambert, Schwantes

----Sources: undated newspaper clipping

Ritter Death Attributed to Skull Injury

A skull fracture and brain injury caused the death of Bruce Ritter, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Ritter, Chili, after the youth fell about 20 feet from a scaffold Thursday afternoon, Coroner H. A. Lambert of Marathon County said today.

Ritter died in St. Joseph's Hospital here early Friday morning.

Lambert said the youth was working for the Stickert Roofing Company of Chili on a barn at the Arthur Schwantes farm in the town of Brighton, northeast of Spencer, when a scaffold bracing pulled away from the building and dropped the youth into a stock watering tank on the ground.

Kenneth Blattler, working at the opposite end of the scaffold administered first aid before Ritter was removed to the hospital.

Funeral services will be held in Christ Lutheran Church at Chili at 2:00 p.m. Monday.