Riley, Mary Ann 1918-2009

RILEY, WARREN, GREEN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcirber
Date: 7/23/2017 at 15:36:50

Mary Ann Riley

July 16, 1918 - January 14, 2009
Born in Des Moines, IA
Resided in Des Moines, IA

Mary Ann Riley died Wednesday, January 14, in Des Moines, IA. She was 90 years old.

Mary Ann was a lifelong resident of Des Moines, where she was born in 1918, to Harry and Elizabeth Warren. A graduate of an experimental program at Roosevelt High School, she completed a bachelor's degree at Smith College in Massachusetts in 1940. As the first woman from Des Moines to join the WAVES, she served in Washington, D.C., where she married Robert G. Riley. At the end of the war they returned home to Des Moines, where he pursued a career in law, and she, a passion for writing and books. Together, they raised a family of 5 children. Robert preceded her in death in 1992.

Mary Ann reviewed books for most of her lifeóan avocation she began as a volunteer during college in the 1930's, continued with the Iowa Daily Press and the Des Moines Register and Tribune, and concluded with a stint as a fiction reviewer for Publisher's Weekly through 2007. She published some 400 reviews, and wrote nine novels herself, including one she completed as her thesis for the master's degree in English she received from Drake University in 1980.

Travel abroad was another passion in Mary Ann's life; annual trips to distant corners of the world was a practice she began with her husband, and continued this peripatetic ritual (Yes, Mary Ann liked to use words like this) ó often with friends, and more recently with her daughter Anne into her 89th year. From riding elephants in the Himalayas at age 88, to floating down the Nile, from the Caribbean islands to Hong Kong, she travelled to over 80 countries in as many years, closing with a month in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Mary Ann maintained a network of friends and associations in Des Moines throughout her life; she volunteered for Des Moines Public Library System, and was a member of Junior League of Des Moines, Proteus Club, Wakonda, Des Moines Club, the Friday Group, the Pioneer Club, and a founding member of the book club Decem Doctae, which began in 1988. She enjoyed golf, bridge and raising a glass with friends on a regular basis.

Mary Ann's children and their families hosted her 90th birthday party in July 2008: Anne Green (Denver, CO, with husband Jack and children Kelsey and Warren), Robert G. Riley Jr. (Des Moines, with wife Kay, children Katherine and Joseph, and grandchildren Joshua, Reece, and Benjamin), Philip (Santa Clara, CA, with wife Mary Beth and children Padraig, Elizabeth, Daniel and Maeve), Timothy (Sitka, AK, with wife Sandra and children William and Catherine), and Ben (Portland, OR, with wife Carol and children Griffin and Wilson).

All who would like to join Mary Ann's family in celebration of her life are invited to a memorial service and reception at the Des Moines Club from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, January 24, 2009.

Contributions may be sent to the Des Moines Public Library Foundation. ~ The Iles Funeral Home, Des Moines, Iowa 14 Jan 2009.