Samuel Mcgregor Ritchie

Samuel McGregor Ritchie, a World War II combat veteran and retired steelworker, died Monday, May 9, at Allegheny General Hospital of injuries suffered in a fall.

He was 90.

Born in Burgettstown, Pa., on May 6, 1926, he, his brother and sister were raised by their grandmother and step-grandfather in McDonald, Pa., after being orphaned. As a member of the “Greatest Generation,” he lived through a time of sweeping change across America.

Immediately after graduating from McDonald High School, he was drafted into the U.S. Navy, where he served as a Storekeeper First Class aboard the battleship U.S.S. Idaho. He was aboard the Idaho when it was hit by a kamikaze pilot in the South Pacific and later in Tokyo Bay when Japan surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945.

He met his future wife, Eleanor Jean Zehnder, when she dissected a frog in a biology class for his cousin, who in return introduced her to him. They married in March 1950 and together built a house in Economy Borough, Beaver County, where they lived until her death in 1992.

He worked for more than 35 years at U.S. Steel’s American Bridge Company, the largest structural steel fabricating plant in the world. He was an inspector at the Ambridge plant when it was putting together three of the world’s six longest suspension bridges, the world’s longest arch bridge — the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia — and the 64-story U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh.

He also helped assemble one of the tallest buildings in the world in 1974, the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, in Chicago. Later, he would refuse to ride an elevator to the top to see the view, saying he knew too much about how poorly it was built.

He moved in 1994 to Mount Dora, Fla., where in later years, he enjoyed mowing his property with his New Holland tractor.

He volunteered building houses for Habitat for Humanity for more than 20 years and was presented with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Lake-Sumter Habitat for Humanity. He was known for his work ethic, his sly sense of humor and dedication to family.

He was a lifelong member of the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, Wexford, where he will be buried.

He was predeceased by his wife Eleanor and brother Harold. He is survived by his daughter, Lauren Ritchie, Mount Dora, Fla.; his granddaughter, Eleanor Roy, Lynchburg, Va., and his sister and brother-in-law, LaVerne and Russell Jamison, McDonald.

Viewing is set for 10 a.m. Thursday, to be followed at 11 a.m. by a memorial service at the Nation Funeral Home, 220 E. Lincoln Ave., McDonald. The family will gather at the graveside at 2 p.m. at the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, 670 Pleasant Hill Road, Wexford.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Lake-Sumter Habitat for Humanity, 900 Main St., Suite 210, The Villages, Fla. 32159.