Obituary of Ritta Inez Wright

WRIGHT (DAY), Ritta Inez – Age 99, of Elmsdale/Bedford, passed away July 13, 2015. She was a daughter of the late William Montgomery Rivers Day of Parrsboro and Edith Magdelen Johnsen of Bermuda. Her parents met at Mount Allison University, married in Bermuda, and moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where Ritta was born on July 1, 1916. It was a very sad day when her father died at the age of 30 when Ritta was just 5 years old and her sister 3 months. Fortunately, the two sisters were blessed with four loving and caring grandparents all of whom the little family lived with alternatively, first in Colorado Springs, where she started school, then to Natick, Mass., where she attended grammar school. Later they moved to Bermuda where her maternal grandparents operated a small hotel, with Ritta now a student at the Bermuda High School for Girls. Most of her summer holidays were spent at her beloved cottage in Parrsboro which her Grandfather Day had built, and which is now over a hundred years old. When she was 16 her mother married Dr. Karl Blackadar of Yarmouth and the family lived there a few years before moving to Halifax. Ritta attended the Halifax County Academy then went to the Truro Teachers College from which she graduated. She taught for a short time in a one room school with 12 grades in Billtown, Kings County, NS. From there she moved to the Alexandra Bloomfield School in Halifax where she taught until 1940. That same year she married Dr. Robert Wright who had a medical practice in Noel. In 1942 they moved to Elmsdale where she lived until moving to the Berkeley Bedford in 2010.Throughout her life Ritta loved to paint and write. She studied art at Mount Allison University as well as in Tatamagouche and belonged to several art groups. Some of her paintings have sold in Nova Scotia and other areas, with at least one hung in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, NB. She was proud to have been appointed to the first Board of Directors of the NS Art Gallery when it moved to its present location in Halifax. She was a freelance writer with the Halifax Chronicle Herald and a regular contributor to the Atlantic Advocate Magazine. She was involved with the IWK where she volunteered regularly in the children’s playroom. For a few years she was president of the auxiliary and the Hants East booth at the annual Kermesse. Besides her parents and grandparents, she was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Robert Wright, and by a beloved sister, Mary Lee Grantmyre. She is survived by her sister, Louise Henderson, Bedford; son, David (Heather) Wright, Elmsdale; daughter, Susan (John) Simunich, Boise, Idaho; son, Kenneth (Lynda) Wright, Cheltenham, Ontario; daughter, Cathryn “Cappa” (Gordon) Callan, Windsor; nine grandchildren, ten great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Cremation has taken place under the care and direction of Ettinger Funeral Home, 2812 Highway 2, Shubenacadie. She will be buried along with her husband Robert in St. George’s Cemetery in Parrsboro, with a short family gathering and service at a time to be determined. In lieu of flowers, it was her wish that any donations could be made in her name to Doctors Without Borders, the volunteer professionals who help heal sick people around the world; or, because she loved animals, a donation to “Bide –A- While” or the SPCA would be appreciated. She also had a wish to encourage us all to visit those who are alone and lonely, as she often said “it is so easy to forget them. This is important”. The family wishes to express a warm and heartfelt thanks to the staff at the Berkeley Bedford for the loving care she was given, not only in her last days, but during her entire stay over the past few years. Condolences, words of comfort and memories of Ritta may be shared with the family at: www.ettingerfuneralhome.com