William Rittenhouse Champlin

William Rittenhouse Champlin was born August 9, 1979 to Kit and Bob Champlin at South County Hospital in Wakefield, RI. He died on November 7 at the Hope Hospice facility in Providence. He grew up partly at the family home in Exeter, just north of Kingston, and partly at Critter Hut, which his parents owned and operated. As a teenager he worked there part-time on weekends, learning the ropes, and during summers while he attended Albright College Reading, Pennsylvania. After graduating in 2001, he realized that his new degree in Computer Science was not going to help him find a job in the over-saturated market, and chose to drive across the country to California and try something different. Eventually he landed a job with Talking Books World trouble-shooting their computer systems and after several years was transferred to their head office in Chicago. Ultimately he moved back in with his parents and telecommuted to his Chicago job until he was finally laid off during the recession. At this point he decided to give the family business a try as an adult, and liked it so well that he became the resident saltwater fish expert in the then Narragansett store. He was stricken with abdominal cancer several years ago, and after a long struggle has succumbed to the disease, in spite of radical chemo and surgery. He is survived by his mother, Kit Champlin of Exeter; two brothers, Christopher A. Champlin and Jeffrey R. Champlin, both of Exeter; three uncles, John R. Champlin of Columbus, Ohio, Jeffrey W. Champlin of Exeter, and Edward L. Ashburn of South Salem, NY; one aunt Terri Ashburn Higgins of Laurenceville, GA, and numerous nieces and nephews. Visiting hours will be Saturday, November 17, 2018 from 11am-2pm at the Avery-Storti Funeral Home, 88 Columbia Street, Wakefield, and burial will be private in the family cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Animal Rescue Rhode Island.