The Charlottesville paper’s obituary for George Ritchie, author of My Life After Dying, which I edited some years ago, includes this swift resume of his life’s work:
George Gordon Ritchie Jr. M.D., 84, of Irvington died Monday, October 29, 2007.
He was a physician, speaker and author and a graduate of the University of Richmond, Medical College of Virginia and served his residency in Psychiatry at the University of Virginia. During his residency, he won the William James Research Award for Research in Psychiatry and helped found the David C. Wilson Hospital in Charlottesville and was president of the Universal Youth Corporation for 20 years.
All this is true, but leaves unsaid the greater part of his life. For in 1943, at age 20, young private George Ritchie had an experience that ultimately helped change our world.
George died, and saw Jesus, and was given a guided tour of earth, heaven and hell. More than anything, he wanted to stary right there with Jesus. No dice; he was sent back, returning to a very sick body (he had died of pneumonia).
He wanted to become a doctor, and obtained a coveted admission into a medical school. No dice; he was too weak, too intimidated. He failed out, and was told he would never be allowed back into the medical program. He wound up back in the army, serving in Europe.
He wanted to return to where he had been. Instead, a truckload of young soldiers were killed shortly after he had obeyed an impulse that told him to get off. He bitterly envied the boys who had been killed, and grieved for them at the same time.
Well, in the course of the next few months he learned that the important thing in life is less to experience the love he had felt when in the presence of Jesus than to give it. He saw this first in the person of a Polish survivor of the POW camps, and never forgot it.
As to the rest of his story, it may be found in My Life Ater Dying, which we retitled Ordered to Return: My Life Ater Dying. He got back into medical school, became a doctor, returned to school and became a psychiatrist, and — lecturing at UVA — inspired Raymond Moody to being the research that resulted in Dr. Moody’s classic book on NDE’s, Life After Life.
To my mind the critical moment is not the moment that he died, nor even the moment he came back, but the moment when he had to decide to tell the truth about his experiences and perhaps jeopardize his career. He made the right choice, and all came well.
George is home now.