Dorothy Ritter is the daughter of Francis Oley, who worked on the Manhattan Project for the Kellex Corporation. Ritter was seven when her father’s job required the family to move from New York to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he worked at the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant.
Ritter spent several years of her childhood in Oak Ridge. She recalls the strain her father was under during the project, and how the excellent teachers she had at Oak Ridge influenced her to become a teacher.