Michael Ritchie stands with the telescope mounted in Schooner Observatory.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
LIMA — Michael Ritchie has a passion that he shares with the community. He is building a sense of community around his passion. Almost 59 years ago, Santa Claus brought Ritchie a small department store telescope. He was nine years old. He has been looking at and sharing the heavens ever since.
“I’m 67. I started doing this at 9. I started coming out to the observatory at age 12,” Ritchie said. “I would have started at 9 but my parents thought I was a little too young.”
Ritchie later went to The Ohio State University to study astronomy and geology, but he made a career of critical care nursing for 25 years. Yet he still was sharing the skies over Lima and other areas. Currently he is an officer with the Lima Astronomical Society. He organizes the programs at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum and the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District, and he takes his own equipment and encourages anyone to participate.
But his passion and dedication go beyond planning events. Ritchie has donated some of his equipment to Lima’s Schoonover Observatory. When the telescope in the observatory was stolen, Ritchie placed one of his own telescopes on the pedestal so that observations could continue. The telescope, worth about $10,000, became city property as soon as he bolted the telescope onto the city-owned pedestal. It is still not sure when the city might address the issue of the stolen telescope.
The observatory is 59 years old and thus has suffered some wear and tear over the years. Ritchie makes the necessary repairs when he can. When he cannot, he brings in paid help from the community. It is not uncommon for Ritchie to make sizable contributions to keep the observatory operational. Schoonover is an observatory that is owned by the city of Lima, yet funded wholly by the Lima Astronomical Society.
Ritchie has pursued grants to help with the repairs at the observatory. Currently the observatory is not ADA compliant. To help with necessary repairs Ritchie has secured a grant from the state of Ohio for a quarter of a million dollars just for improvements and maintenance. He has also secured a grant from Proctor and Gamble for $15,000 for telescope and equipment replacement.
Still, looking into the skies in the future might be even easier. Ritchie is negotiating with the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District to build a roll-off roof dark sky observatory at Kendrick Woods. The light pollution from the city of Lima sometimes hinders the viewing of the heavens. Ritchie is also working with the International Dark Sky Association to designate Kendrick Woods as an IDA Sky Park. Once these are completed, Ritchie plans to train the park staff on their use.
Planning has already begun for the total solar eclipse of 2024. A quarter of a million people are anticipated to be in the Lima area to view the eclipse. Meetings have been held and more are scheduled.
Michael Ritchie like most Jefferson Award nominees has a passion that he loves sharing with people. He can talk about astronomy forever, but getting him to talk about himself is a chore. The time and money spent are inconsequential. He loves astronomy and will continue to share his passion with his community and beyond.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
