Arlene Antoinette Riddick

June 29, 1944 - December 5, 2021

The staff at Heishman Funeral Home Inc. send condolences to the family of Arlene Antoinette Riddick. Arlene Antoinette Riddick, 77, of Woodstock, Virginia, passed away peacefully in her home on December 5, 2021, surrounded by her human and feline family. Arlene was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1944, to John and Nellie Bentlejewski. After attending New Kensington High School, Arlene defied expectations and moved, at the age of eighteen, to Washington, D.C. to work on Capitol Hill. Here she met Alfred “Al” Riddick, originally of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they married shortly thereafter. Eager to see more of the world, they lived in Tokyo, Japan and Bangkok, Thailand for several years. They immersed themselves in the local culture, enjoyed seeing a number of jazz legends in tiny nightclubs, and acquired a small but colorful vocabulary of Japanese and Thai expressions before returning to the DC area to start a family. Son Mark was born in 1969; apparently they found him to be acceptable and they had daughter Cindy in 1971. In addition to raising two kids, Arlene enjoyed turning yarn and thread into many other things under the guise of her business “Stitches ‘N Such”, along with a variety of ceramic ware, and was quite successful at craft shows in the metropolitan area. When Al retired in the mid-‘90s, they bought a piece of land in the Fairview area of Woodstock and designed and built their new home, where they enjoyed the beauty and calm pace of the Shenandoah Valley. Al unfortunately died of cancer in 1999. His passing was eased by Blue Ridge Hospice; Arlene saw the tremendous work they do and volunteered there for nineteen years. She continued her artistic explorations, branching out into all manner of 2D media. She enjoyed her paintings and drawings, often wildlife and landscapes, almost as much as she enjoyed the friends she met in the Valley painting circles, particularly Hillside. In addition to her human friends, she cherished (and was quick to point out) visits by wide variety of fuzzy, furry, and feathered visitors, and even tolerated snakes from a reasonable distance. Indoors, she was often found reading or cheering on her Redskins, Nationals, and Capitals while under a contented mound of dog and cats. Arlene is survived by her son Mark Riddick, daughter Cindy Misenheimer, son-in-law Kreth Misenheimer, five grandkids, and three cats. A celebration of her life will be held in the spring, and the family are asking that a donation to Blue Ridge Hospice be made in lieu of flowers. Online condolences may be left at www.valleyfs.com Arrangements by Heishman Funeral Home Inc., Valley Funeral Service Branch, Edinburg.