Mary Dean Ritchie, daughter of Eliza and Thomas Ritchie, was born in Elora, Ontario, in 1877. She received her education in the Valley City public schools, the normal school, and the University of Michigan, and taught Latin in the high school for Several years. Miss Ritchie was a member of PEO, Chapter A, North Dakota.

Miss Ritchie lived for many years in Oregon and later in Bozeman, Montana, where she was a sorority house mother and where she passed away in 1959.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 206