Alvin Eugene Ridley, a man once considered something of an outcast in Ringgold, then a murder suspect, and finally a quirky and loved icon, passed away on July 2 at 82 years old.
Ridley was born March 3, 1942. He served in the U.S. Army and later had a Zenith shop in Ringgold where he sold and repaired television sets.
Ridley lived much of his life suspicious of the world around him, feeling people were conspiring against him. It culminated when he was accused of killing his wife of 30 years. Thanks to Ringgold attorney McCracken Poston Jr., Ridley’s innocence was proven. And thanks to Poston, his legal secretary Carlene Renner and some others, Ridley’s last years were transformed into ones of friendship and love. For the last 10 years, Ridley and Poston — and sometimes others — had lunch together at least once a week.
Ridley became a local celebrity over the past year after Poston’s book about Ridely’s trial for the murder of his wife, Virginia, “Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom” came out and sales soared.
Poston said Ridley loved the many book signings the two of them attended.
The “Redemption” in the title of Poston’s book is multifaceted. Poston has talked about how it was a redemption not only for Ridley but for many people in Ringgold after the trial. People learned not to jump to conclusions about others so quickly, about accepting those who are “different,” about walking in someone else’s shoes.
Ridley was eventually diagnosed as autistic, which explained some of his quirky behavior. Poston said in his book that the discovery shed a lot of light on his many frustrations with Ridley over the course of the trial and after.
When Ridley fell seriously ill six weeks before his death, Poston got him to a hospital, then to rehabilitation and finally to a nursing home. Ridley’s kidneys were failing.
When Ridley made a turn for the worse and Poston arrived at the hospital he’d been transferred to, he stopped in the gift shop and bought his friend and former client a stuffed gorilla that reminded him of one that sat in Ridley’s TV shop when Poston was a kid.
Poston found Ridley handing out bookmarks for “Zenith Man” from his bed. The book, said Poston, along with the autism diagnosis, softened the public’s view of Ridley and greatly contributed to the last five months of his life being especially good for him.
“He told his doctor,” Poston said, “that he went down to Jimmy Carter’s place and spoke to 300,000 people about the book.” It was a book signing at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Poston said, and it was safe to remove three zeros from the number in attendance.
But two days later, the Ringgold Youth Council sponsored a talk and book signing for Ridley and Poston at the Ringgold Depot. The room was packed. Three former jurors from Ridley’s trial were in attendance. That made a deep impression upon Ridley. “Afterward,” said Poston, “Alvin talked about how the people laughed and smiled and put their hands together for him.”
Poston was with Ridley when he passed away. “We had been talking about how he would see his wife and parents again. He said his daddy would take him fishing in Heaven where you could catch 30 fish in an hour. Then he looked at me and said, ‘Oh, Lordy.’”
A nurse came and asked Poston if Ridley had a favorite song. “His wife’s favorite song was ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ by Roberta Flack,” Poston told her.
The nurse brought the song up on her phone and laid it on Ridley’s chest as his heart fluttered to a stop.
In the end, Poston shared, Alvin Eugene Ridley contributed much to his community. He started out repairing their televisions and even educating people about how they worked. He was a loving and protective companion to his wife. He loved his animals and worked to protect them from the elements and harm. He was a good friend to many. He provided some comic relief to those around him, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not, but usually in good spirit.
McCracken shows in his book that Ridley left his sphere of the world a better place than he found it. He befriended, he forgave, he loved.
Alvin Eugene Ridley obituary: https://tinyurl.com/erfke6mp
To learn more about Alvin Ridley’s trial and Alvin Ridley as a person, see McCracken Poston’s book, “Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom,” available at booksellers online and at local shops.
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