Mary E. (Morgan) Ritzer

Mt. Olive Township:  Mary E. Ritzer (Morgan), 84, of Budd Lake, cherished mother of three sons, passed away peacefully after a long illness at Morristown Medical Center on Sunday, November 5th surrounded by her family.

Mary was born at Old Souls Hospital, now Morristown Medical Center, in Morristown on October 19, 1939.  She was a 1957 graduate of Dover High School.  She then went to work for the National Park Service as the sole Library researcher at the Ford Mansion in Morristown, N.J.  Mary worked with a number for prominent Authors and Historians at the time, and she found her job extremely rewarding.

Mary was a lifelong resident of Dover until she met her husband, Augustus L. Ritzer, towards the end of the decade.  Mary was married on June 12, 1960 and moved to Budd Lake in 1961 where she resided on historic Smith Family property until she passed.

Above all, Mary loved her family and was a wonderful wife and mom.  She was an expert genealogist who did extensive research and accumulated scores of documents and records on the Smith, Morgan, and Ritzer families.  Mary was an avid gardener and herbalist. Her vegetable and herb gardens thrived throughout the years which came in handy when she was a 4H Leader in the 1970s.  One of her other many passions was photography.  Mary spent a lot of her spare time (and money) on photoshoots and the latest photography equipment.

She is predeceased by her parents, David and Alice (Smith) Morgan, and her husband Augustus L. Ritzer.

She is survived by her three devoted sons, Craig and Brian of Budd Lake, NJ, and Gary of Longmont, CO. 

Funeral services are private, and interment will follow at Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover.

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