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Posted: 2:24 PM Jul 28, 2010
Bridge Dedication Ceremonies Scheduled
Ceremonies to honor the late, Earl “Skip” Ritz and the late, William Russell Barker will take place on August 6 in Johnson County..
Reporter: WSAZ News Staff Email Address: news@wsaz.com |
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1 Comments 
JOHNSON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Kentucky General Assembly and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is honoring two men by naming bridges in their honor.
Ceremonies to honor the late, Earl “Skip” Ritz and the late, William Russell Barker will take place on August 6.
The Earl “Skip” Ritz Memorial Bridge is on KY 3 at the Johnson/Floyd County line. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on adjoining vacant state right of way.
The William R. Barker Memorial Bridge is on KY 302 at the intersection of KY 1100 at West Van Lear. The ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. just beyond the bridge on CSX property on the left going into West Van Lear.
Both dedication ceremonies will begin with the Presentation of Colors from the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 18. The veterans will also offer a 21-gun salute at the end of each event.
Earl Ritz was 61 years old when he died on May 27, 2008. Born February 5, 1947, he left high school in Williamson (WV) and enlisted first in the National Guard. At the age of 18 he joined the U.S. Army, entering basic training at Fort Knox on December 28, 1965. His AIT training was at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and his MOS was 11C20, which indicated a mortar crew member. He served until December 27, 1971, first in Munich, Germany, for nine months, and then in Pleiku, Vietnam, with the Fourth Infantry. His duties included day and night patrols, where he and his fellow soldiers sustained enemy fire and lived in fields. He also sat ambush duty nightly. In addition, his entire outfit walked into a day ambush, which wiped out half the company. Ritz was wounded during this tour and earned a Purple Heart for service to his country.
His second Vietnam tour involved operations on the Cambodian border. In Prey Veng, while under intense sniper fire, an enemy soldier broke through the perimeter and threw satchel charges into the supplies, which included Napalm.
Ritz was discharged from Vietnam in October 1968, and assigned to Fort Meade, Maryland, and ultimately Fort Hood, Texas, where he stay until his honorable discharge in 1971.
After his military service, he lived in Texas for about 10 years, eventually moving back to the mountains where he chose to live in Paintsville. During the late 1980s he worked for Elmo Greer and Sons, the contractor who built the bridge being named in Ritz’s memory. Ritz was a member of the crew that built the bridge.
A Kentucky Colonel, Ritz devoted considerable time and energy collecting toys and clothing for Christmas in the Mountains.
William Russell Barker, the fifth of the eight children of Helen Swentzel Barker and the late Earl Barker, was born January 6, 1949, and served in the United States Air Force from August 3, 1967, until March 22, 1971, after his graduation from Van Lear High School.
Described as a loving husband, father, son, brother, and grandfather, Barker was also a builder, inventor, farmer, prankster, giver, Bankmule and friend. He and his wife, Tammy Auxier Barker, owned Barker Mobile Homes, which Tammy has continued to operate since his death on January 10, 2010. Barker was also chairman of the Johnson County Democrat Executive Committee and a board member of the Van Lear Historical Society.
The Barkers lived on a farm at Lowmansville. The bridge which will bear his name is near both his mobile home business and the Van Lear Historical Society, one of the most important groups to benefit from his countless hours of volunteer work.
Latest Comments
As the only child of William Barker,I was happy to see your article concerning my father. However, I think it bears noting that my father started Barker's Mobile Homes in 1981 whle married to my mother, Patty Barker. It wasn't until the last few years the other party had anything to do with the business. Thank you.
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