Cathie St. John-Ritzen: Serving Our Elders
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| Cathie St. John-Ritzen, Buncombe County Public Administrator. Photo by Diane |
Staff Reports
Cathie St. John-Ritzen, a 1966 graduate of Barnes Hospital School of Nursing, St. Louis, worked as a registered nurse in staff, educational, and management positions for 18 years. She received a Bachelor of General Studies degree in 1986 and a JD (law degree) in 1998 from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Prior to entering law school, Ms. St. John-Ritzen was a care-giver for her parents and in-laws and taught college English while pursuing a master’s degree in English; she also worked as a nurse consultant for a law firm in Springfield, Missouri. She opened a solo law practice in Asheville in January 2001.
Her primary practice area is elder law, which includes wills and trusts; powers of attorney; health care powers of attorney; living wills; long-term care planning; elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation; incompetency and guardianship cases; and probate and estate administration.
In June 2001, St. John-Ritzen was appointed Buncombe County Public
Administrator and continues to serve in that position. She is an active
member of the Buncombe County 28th Judicial District Bar (served as an
Executive Committee member from 2007-2010), the North Carolina Bar
Association, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys (served
on the Board as Education Chair in 2007), and the National Academy of
Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. (is on the Board of the North Carolina Chapter
of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc.).
She has
been an attorney for Pisgah Legal Services, serving on their Hotline and
on its Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyers Elder Law team; also with Pisgah
she has joined with area attorneys and two assistant clerks of court to
teach a Continuing Legal Education program on guardianships to local
attorneys who represent low-income families.
Cathie has served as a
member of the Executive Committee of the Buncombe County Council on
Aging, a board member and secretary of the executive committee of the
Vanderbilt Apartments, a member of the Buncombe County Women’s
Commission (two terms as president), and a board member of the
Asheville-Buncombe County League of Women Voters. Each fall she teaches
an eight-week class at the Center for Creative Retirement at UNC
Asheville, and during the year teaches courses for various civic
organizations. She is also a speaker for special community programs
provided by CarePartners, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, and Triad.
One
of the pleasures of knowing and working with Cathie St. John-Ritzen is
her attention to detail: not only is she a T-crosser and I-dotter in her
daily work, but she ensures that her clients themselves have the most
thorough knowledge of what they face in their senior years, and all
their options to make them the best years of their lives. Who could make
a better contribution than that?
