BOARDMAN — A book has been donated to the Boardman High School library in honor of Francis J. Ritz of Poland, a former Boardman teacher who died in November 2019 at the age of 102.

The book was presented by Darlene Malaska (past president) and Debbie VanArsdale (current president) of the MU Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International Society of Key Women Educators. Ritz was a member of the local chapter and earlier this year, the membership decided to donate a book in her name to Boardman High School.

“It is a policy with our chapter to pay tribute to deceased members,” said Malaska during a Boardman Board of Education meeting last week. “Francis was all about education and she had an enormous impact on Boardman schools.”

Ritz was born in 1917 in Youngstown as the eldest of five children. Early in her life, she began making a name for herself, being the first young woman in Mahoning County to receive the Golden Eaglet award in 1935. The award was the highest honor for a Girl Scout of that time.

Ritz went on to graduate as a valedictorian from Youngstown’s East High School. She furthered her studies by earning a BS in Education from Youngstown State University, which was in 1939 known as Youngstown College.

Her teaching career spanned 48 years and included four years of teaching at YSU’s School of Business. At Boardman, she put in 32 years of service and was department chair of the Business Education Department and head of the Cooperative Office Education program. She was noted as securing 700 jobs for her students as interns in a wide variety of fields and was awarded the Ohio State Vocational Department’s plaque for excellence in her abilities to find employment opportunities for her high school students.

Besides her dedication to education, Ritz was also known to volunteer her time to help others. She volunteered at the Pearl Street Community Center and at Christ Mission on the East Side to distribute food and clothing to the poor, and she served as treasurer for the Friends of the Poland Library for 10 years, keeping all the books by hand.

Ritz enjoyed a few pastimes. One was when she and husband Steve Ritz joined the East Ohio Lapidary Club and took up the hobby of gem stones. She also had a passion for gardens, which was brought out through the Dec. 21 book donation.

Ritz enjoyed traveling and everywhere she went she would look for gardens.

“She loved gardens,” Malaska said. “She did a lot of traveling and always sought out gardens to visit. This was a deciding factor in the book we decided to donate, called ‘Gardener’s Gardens.'”

Malaska said two of Ritz’s favorite gardens were Singhurst in Kent, England, and Giverney Gardens in Giverney, France.

“Both gardens are featured in the book, making it an appropriate donation,” Malaska said.

The book was accepted by BHS Librarian Sandy Vicarel as a very welcome addition.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com