Jan 22, 2009 8:09 pm US/Eastern
Don Ryce's Final Promise
Memorial Services Will Be Held On Sunday
Burial Is Monday
See Details Below
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Claudine Ryce
George Olsen/2008
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Claudine and Don Ryce with law enforcement trailing team award winner at Florida Missing Children's Day.
JimmyRyce.org/CBS
Don Ryce summoned grace and courage once more on Thursday: His wife, Claudine, 66-years -old, had died of an apparent heart attack only the day before, and her bereaved husband wanted to thank the community for its love and support.
He's leaned on that strength for years now, ever since terror struck on September 11th, 1995. That's the day the couple's son, 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce, was abducted while walking home from the school bus stop in the Redland. Now, on the passing of his wife, Ryce is comforted by a single thought. He says, "I wish I could be there to see it because I know she is feeling comfort and joy having Jimmy back in her arms."
The little boy's dismembered body was found three months after his disappearance. He had been raped and shot by a farm worker, Juan Carlos Chavez, who now sits on Florida's Death Row.
That tragedy prompted the Ryce's-- both career lawyers-- to become tireless advocates for the protection of children. The Jimmy Ryce Act created new protections against sexual predators. The couple helped push to get bloodhounds for police departments searching for missing children, and they always could be counted on to offer support to other families enduring the hellish torment they'd known.
Ryce said of his wife, "Claudine did not ask for any of this; she did not ask to be a crusader. But she took it up with grace, courage and determination."
Now her husband vows to try and keep a promise they had made to one another. He wants to live to see his son's killer executed. "It is not that we are dominated by thoughts of him," Ryce says of Chavez, "but justice requires he give his life for what he took from our son's."
Now that son's mother will be laid to rest next to her little boy--together again.
Memorial services have been finalized Claudine Ryce. A public viewing for Ryce will be Sunday, January 25th, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Van Orsdel Family Funeral Chapel at 11220 North Kendall Drive.
Funeral services will be held Monday, January 26th, at 11a.m. at St. Andrews Episcopal Church at 14260 Old Cutler Road in Palmetto Bay. A funeral procession will then carry Ryce to the Woodlawn Park South Cemetery, at 11655 Southwest 117th Avenue, where she will be laid to rest next to her son Jimmy.
The Ryce family has asked that flowers arrangements be made with the funeral home. Anyone wishing to make a donation in the memory of Claudine Ryce can contact:
Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction
900 Bay Drive East
Suite 201
Miami Beach, FL 33141
jimmyryce.org
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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