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This page is dedicated to the optimist members of the
Optimist Club of Evansville, Downtown, who faithfully served
our club and the youth in our community. Their memory is cherished by all members. They
will not be forgotten. Each Memorial Day Weekend, our members place
an American Flag with our club identification on all the
graves of members who have preceeded us.
Eric Alan
Thornton Eric Alan Thornton, 51, of Evansville,
died Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at St. Mary's Medical Center.
He had worked at Bristol
Myers. In recent years, Eric
owned his own Rental Property Business. Eric had been a member of the Downtown
Optimist Club for several years. Currently, he was
on our Board of Directors, and served on our Tri-Star Soccer
Committee. Due to his health issues, Eric was not able
to be involved in many of our club activities in recent
months. Eric was known by members as a person who
was not a quitter as he constantly was fighting different
health issues. Although he had several years of health
problems, his positive attitude will be remembered by the
members who knew and loved him. Eric had a passion for Corvair cars.
He owned several Corvair convertibles including one that was
previously owned by Yankees baseball player, Don
Mattingly. Eric had Don sign the car after he
learned that it had been owned my him. Many members celebrated his
birthday July 2006 at his home. He received this cake
with a picture of one of his Chevrolet Corvair convertibles on
it. Surviving are parents, Bobby Sr. and Mary;
a sister, Michelle Howell; and brother, Bob. Funeral services will be held at a later
date. Pierre Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Comments from his
fellow Optimist Club members: Eric
was a very giving person, as we can all recall he always
brought lots of items to the meetings for prizes when we was
Sarge. Eric always kept a very
positive, Optimistic attitude about everything, in addition,
he always was a big help at our annual picnic with bringing
grills, food, and cooking . He always made fun of
Todd's little grill!! lol I know there was a lot
of times Eric did not feel good, but he still came to the
meetings and contributed. I will miss him a lot, I do
already. He was a good friend! - Dan
Phillips I
will remember him as a witty, friendly and outgoing individual
that was a real contributor to Optimism! - Don
Julian Eric came in
to my office just a few weeks ago and left me a message
about returning to the Optimist meetings (in fact, I want to
call it a friendly threat!!). He was just so awesome and
enjoyed life. We can all learn from him and keep his legacy
alive by being good and kind to one another and to others.
I am blessed to have
such wonderful folks to call my friends and Optimist
Buddies! Let's be good to each other and to ourselves.
I will try and
obey Eric and get back to those good ole Wednesday Optimist
meetings! - Marilyn
Robinson Eric
had a Cardinal on his Thornton business card...thus I
nicknamed him "Redbird". - Todd Wahl He was also a big
collector of die cast car models - Gary Burk
Paul K.
Ritchel Paul joined our club in 1940.
He was President in 1972 - 1973 and served many terms as
a board member. For over 60 years, Paul was one of our
most "optimistic" members. Paul's attitude was always
positive and upbeat. He was committed to our club not
only in donating his time, but the resources of his printing
company, Creative Press. Paul donated the design and
printing of our weekly newsletters for many years. Our
newsletter has won numerous awards over the years partly
because of it's professional design. He also designed
the booklet for your club's 60th anniversary. For
many years, our club would write and present "skits" at
our new president's induction. Because of Paul's
background as a musician and singer he always volunteered
to play a role in these productions. His advise as a person, as a professional,
and optimist was always welcome. He will be greatly
missed.
Mr. Ritchel was retired from the presidency of Creative
Press, Inc. His career in the printing business began at
Keller-Crescent when he was 18 years old and just graduated
from high school. He began as a compositor, did purchasing and
estimating, was a sales assistant and, for nearly eight years,
an account executive with the company. In 1946, he established
a printing company with Orla Heim, called Heim and Ritchel, on
First Street in Evansville. In 1950, he acquired the company
and renamed it Creative Press, Inc., which eventually expanded
to three facilities in the Evansville area. In 2001, the
family-owned company was sold. In the 1930s and 1940s, he played and sang with the Charlie
Kroener Orchestra, where he met his wife, the former Mary Lou
Walter, vocalist with the band. They were married for 62
years. Mr. Ritchel was also a violinist and a charter member
of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a longtime member of the Downtown Optimist Club and
served both as its president and on its board. He held
membership in several civic and business organizations, and
the Petroleum Club and the Kennel Club of Evansville. He
enjoyed gardening, golf and wintering in Fort Myers, Fla. Paul was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Lou, a son,
Patrick, and a sister, Helen Hillman. He is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Susie and Dale
Oberbeck of Newburgh; sons and daughters-in-law, Gary and Lynn
of Evansville and Mike and Gina of Bloomington; grandchildren,
Susan Jane Oberbeck of Kuttawa, Ky., John Oberbeck of New
York, N.Y., Michael Oberbeck of Long Beach, Calif., Heath and
Tyler Ritchel of Evansville, Maria Dahlgren of Evansville,
Tony and Tom Ritchel of Bloomington, and Elaine and Sean
Ritchel of Albequerque, N.M.; and great-grandchildren, Colin
Camacho, Caitlin Jent and Christian and Aidan Kopec. He is
also survived by nieces and nephews. Mr. Ritchel will be remembered for the friendliness and
kindness he extended to everyone, his optimistic personality,
and for his generosity. His family would like to acknowledge
the care and consideration shown to Paul by the staff at Angel
River Health and Rehabilitation, Deaconess Gateway Hospital
and Deaconess Hospice. Visitation was 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, February 24, at Ziemer
Funeral Home East Chapel, 800 S. Hebron Ave. Private funeral
services were held Monday at Ziemer East Chapel. Burial will
follow at St. Joseph Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, friends may make memorial contributions
to the Alzheimer's Association, Albion Fellows Bacon Center,
or their favorite charity. A
dedication was held at Cortegra (formerly Creative Press) in
Paul Ritchel's memory on August 14, 2009. A
tree was planted, and bricks surrounding the tree came from
the former building. A plaque was dedicated in
Paul's memory.
Lori
Carroll Bryant Lori joined
our club over 15 years ago and served on many
committees. This past year, Lori served as
Invocation Chairman for October 2006, Program Chairman
for January, was a member of the Orientation and
Assimilation Committee, Sunshine Corner
Committee. Lori Carroll Bryant, 47,
of In her youth she
attended Upon her graduation Lori
was employed at ISUE as an Admissions Counselor. She
worked for Community Action Program of Evansville since
1988, where she was the director of the Foster
Grandparent Program, CAPE Literacy Center Coordinator,
Deputy Director and Director of Community Partnerships
& Systems, and most recently was responsible for
monitoring CAPEs Children's Services. She was a member of the
Indiana Adult Literacy Coalition, Evansville Literacy
Coalition, Indiana Literacy Foundation, Evansville
Vanderburgh County Commission on Domestic and Sexual
Violence, 4-H Vanderburgh County Fair Board, 4-H
Advisory Council, 4-H leader of Perry M&M's, '93
graduate of Leadership Evansville, Downtown Evansville
Optimists, SINE Advisory Council, Work One Partners
Consortium, Vanderburgh County Step Ahead Council, and
Board of Directors of the Big Blue Boosters for Reitz
High School. Lori was a member of Lori is survived by
husband of 23 years, Kevin R. Bryant of Evansville;
daughter, Kourtney Bryant of Evansville; son, Erik
Bryant of Evansville; parents, Louis and Kay Carroll of
Evansville; sisters, Rhonda Dest and her husband, Steve,
of Georgetown, Texas, Jody Kissel and her husband, Rick,
of Evansville, and Sandy Danks and her husband, Jack, of
Evansville; her in-laws, Merle and Susan Bryant and
Alice and Gerald Fuchs and a very special cousin, Robin
Lannert. The family wishes to
express their gratitude to Dr. Browning and his staff,
as well as the nurses in Deaconess Hospice unit. Thanks
also to the dear friends who showed their love and
support to Lori and her family throughout her
illness. Funeral services were
held Friday, August 31, 2007, at 11 a.m. at
Visitation was August
30, 2007, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Browning Funeral
Home, Memorial contributions
may be made to As the members of the
Eighteen-year-old
Kourtney Bryant's mother, Lori, died this week after a
long battle with breast cancer. Kourtney Bryant and her
family and friends will attend the funeral this morning
and then the homecoming festivities tonight. It may be
hard to grapple with all the emotions, she said, but her
mother would want her to do it. "My mom wouldn't want me
to be home alone crying," Kourtney Bryant said Thursday.
"She'd want me to be happy and she'd want me to do this.
So I want to do it for her. I don't really care that I
win - I just want to be there for
her." Bryant died Wednesday at
Deaconess Hospital Hospice after fighting breast cancer
for six years. She was 47. As they recalled a life
dedicated to family, faith, volunteer service and her
work at the Community Action Program of Evansville, Lori
Bryant's family said it was inspiring to see how hard
she fought toward recovery. And while she died
before seeing if her daughter would become homecoming
queen, the Bryants said she did accomplish almost all of
a series of goals she set for herself as a way of
promoting continued recovery. That included committing
herself to taking each day one at a time, seeing her
daughter attend prom and seeing her son score his first
touchdown on the varsity football team at
Reitz. "Reaching her goals
meant life was continuing and her children were with
her," Bryant's husband, Kevin, said. "It was very
important for her. It was very important for all of
us." Lori Bryant suffered a
debilitating stroke in April that paralyzed both legs
and severely limited her speech, but just before that,
she accomplished another of her goals when she was there
for her daughter's prom. Kourtney Bryant didn't
find out that was one of the goals until her mom was
already back in the hospital. "I was just so
appreciative and happy that she was even here," she
said. "She's my angel." Not all of Lori Bryant's
goals were met, however. One of them was to watch her
daughter pick up her high school diploma at Reitz
Bowl. That may be a difficult
day knowing how much Lori Bryant wanted to be there, her
family said. But somehow, some way, they know she'll be
watching anyway. "We know she's going to
be there," Kevin Bryant said. "She's still going to be
with us."
Kourtney Bryant and
Tanner Babb are only seniors at They met as small
children at Sunday school and developed a friendship
they would maintain for years - through church, youth
groups and school. And in just the past
year, Babb and Bryant have endured similar heartache.
Babb's father, Marine Sgt. Brock Babb, was killed while
serving in On Friday, Tanner Babb
and Kourtney Bryant were both among the 24 nominees for
King and Queen at And, as fate would have
it, that experience brought the two friends together
once more: Tanner Babb was named King, and Kourtney
Bryant was crowned Queen. "It's a real honor -
especially since he and Kourtney got it at the same
time," said Barbara Babb, Tanner's mother. "They've kind
of grown up together ... And there's not a lot of kids
out there who have experienced something like this,
either one way or the other." For Kourtney Bryant, and
her younger brother, sophomore Erik Bryant, the grief of
losing their mother had just begun. Lori Bryant died
Wednesday after a six-year battle with cancer. She was
laid to rest Friday morning. Shifting from that
setting to preparation for the homecoming ceremonies
wasn't easy, Kourtney Bryant said. But as she arrived at
school and climbed into the back of the black Jaguar
convertible that would slowly drive her around the Reitz
Bowl track in a line of Queen nominees, an easy sense of
calmness overcame her. She knew exactly
why. "It was my mom," she
said. "I could feel her smiling down on
me." When Kourtney Bryant's
name was read as Queen, she said emotions overcame her,
but her thoughts immediately went back to her
mother. "I thought, there you
go, Mom," she said. "I did this for
you." Seconds later, throngs
of family and friends mobbed the field, with cameras in
hand, flashes pulsing. Lori Bryant, long the
photographer of the family, wasn't there. But Kourtney
Bryant knew just how it would have
been. "She would have just
come up and smiled and said 'I love you,'" she said.
Tanner Babb was happy to
have won, although he said he entered the competition
with a slightly different attitude. His girlfriend
nominated him, he said, even after he told her he wasn't
interested in taking part. But after going through
the process and being voted in by his peers, Tanner Babb
said he was glad it played out the way it had. And he
was sure his father would have been happy,
too. "He'd be pretty proud of
me," Tanner Babb said. "Most of the stuff I did, he
would let me know if he was. I'm sure he would have
been." Tanner Babb's aunt had
told Kourtney Bryant before the ceremony that because of
their history and their shared experiences, they were
destined to win. Shortly after they were
crowned, Kourtney Bryant agreed. "I really think it was
(meant to be)," she said. "Tanner's one of my really
good friends, and I think we're all loved. We did it for
our parents." |
