Mary Elizabeth (Ritchie) Weber

And on the ninth day, God made a farmers wife...

Mary Elizabeth (Ritchie) Weber, age 92, went to be with her Lord and Savior on May 9, 2020. A private family burial service will be held on Wednesday, May 13 at Chadwick Cemetery.

Mary was born on March 18, 1928 in Savanna, IL, to Marshall and Bessie (Campbell) Ritchie. She grew up in the rural schools near Zion and Mt Carroll and graduated from Lanark High School in 1946. Mary worked as a switchboard operator in Lanark through her late teens.

She married George Weber, a farmer from Chadwick, on November 30, 1947. Together, they had three children, Donald (Deb) Weber of Minooka, Christine (Robert) Wiltshire, and William (Margo) Weber both of Chadwick. Mary took immense pride in being a farmer’s wife and being the meal provider for those in the field. She spent countless hours in her large garden and was known far and wide for her chocolate chiffon cakes.

Mary spent many years serving her Lord as a founding member of the Chadwick Evangelical Free Church and faithfully supported her missionaries. She enjoyed participating in the Farm Bureau women’s committee and every year she looked forward to her Lanark class reunion. She so enjoyed the months when her sister Ruth would come to visit from Alabama. She never missed a Saturday night with Lawrence Welk, and you never found her in her chair without a good book and a kitty on her lap.

Mary had a spirit that loved animals - well, nearly all. She raised every domestic and wild animal in the northwest in a cardboard box in the kitchen - cats, dogs, cows, pigs, rabbits, ducks, chickens, raccoons, a fox, and even a squirrel ... George facetiously scowled when she wouldn’t take in a coyote.

When Mary became a grandmother, she wasn’t just “Grandma Mary” to her grandkids; she was “Grandma Mary” to everyone. Time slowed down when you sat with her on the swing under the hollow maple, in the kitchen at the table, or in the second to last pew on the left in the sanctuary. When she called you “honey” you felt you were her world. There was no better listener than this Grandma. And her big hugs wrapped you up in a way that never let go. She will be missed by so many.

She waits in heaven for her sister Ruth Manning of Jacksonville FL; children; grandchildren Jennifer (Jason) Wolff, Amy (Jacob Chapman) Wiltshire, Heidi (Jason) Hall, and Melody (Chris) Stauffer; and great-grandchildren Jordan, Jackson, Trey, Will, and Eva.

She meets in heaven her parents, infant grandson Bobby Wiltshire, and husband George.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the funeral home in Mary’s name.