Thalia Ritschel

Thalia Ritschel, age 92, passed away on March 25, 2018 in Aurora, Colorado. Thalia was born in 1925 in Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete. She was a teenager during World War II when the German army occupied Crete. Thalia had many stories of her family's experiences during that time, including having a German officer live in the family home.

After the war, Thalia became a flight attendant for Greek Airline TAE, which later became Olympic Airways. During that time she met Paul Ritschel, a U.S. Citizen and an employee of Trans World Airlines, who had recently been stationed at the Athens airport. After a short courtship, they were married in 1948. They enjoyed 56 years of marriage together and through Paul's assignments with TWA lived in many locations throughout the world, including India, Iraq, Italy, and Spain. Thalia became a U.S. Citizen in 1950 and the family eventually moved to Denver, Colorado and then Albuquerque, New Mexico. They raised three children together; Velma, Katherine and Dennis.

Thalia enjoyed volunteering for over a decade at Anna Kaseman Hospital in Albuquerque. In retirement, Thalia and Paul enjoyed traveling, dancing, and spending time with family and their many wonderful friends. A few years after Paul passed in 2005, Thalia moved to the Heather Gardens community in Aurora to be closer to her daughter Katherine. Thalia was very active in many social and exercise activities at Heather Gardens, where she lived independently until early this year.

Thalia had a great sense of humor and enjoyed great health most of her life. When her grandchildren arrived, she was very happy to be called "Yaya" (Greek for grandmother). She will be missed greatly by her family and friends .

Thalia is survived by her daughter Katherine Ward and husband Allen Ward of Centennial, Colorado; her son Dennis Ritschel and wife Kathleen Ritschel of Santa Fe, New Mexico; her granddaughter Annie Ritschel and grandson Devin Ritschel. She is preceded in death by her husband Paul; daughter Velma; parents Epaminondas and Kleo Leontidis; and siblings Elly, Rena, George and Byron.

A celebration of Thalia's life will be held on May 4th in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she will join Paul at Sunset Memorial Park. Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (www.bcrf.org), the American Heart Association (www.heart.org), or the Dumb Friends League of Colorado, which works to end pet homelessness and animal suffering and was one of Thalia's favorite charities