clipped from obits.oregonlive.comMarjorie Rockwell Riley
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Riley, Marjorie Rockwell 92 11/25/1917 07/26/2010Marjorie Rockwell Riley, age 92, passed away peacefully July 26, 2010, in Los Angeles.
She was an art collector and loyal friend and generous benefactor of the Portland Art Museum, the Hallie Ford Museum, the Oregon Ballet, the Nature Conservancy, and other arts and environmental organizations.
Born in 1917 in Las Vegas, Nev., to Leon and Bessie Rockwell, Marge graduated from Woodbury College in Los Angeles. She married Otis Riley in 1937 and then moved to Portland in 1940. After divorcing in 1952, she raised her two children, Michael and Judith, on her own - even overseeing the design and con-struction of her own house.
For almost 20 years, she served as the social director for the Multnomah Athletic Club, organizing numerous events and trips across the globe. She also nurtured her own lifelong interest in nature and travel, avidly hiking in the Columbia River Gorge and touring countries on nearly every continent. Asked recently if she had ever ridden an ostrich, she replied with characteristic speed, "I rode just about everything that would let me get on it!"
Her friendship with the Oregon artist Charles Heaney nurtured a deep interest in Northwest art. Over time, Marge developed a modest, but important collection of paintings and drawings by the likes of Heaney, Kenneth Callahan, and others of the Works Progress Administration era along with contemporary artists and Northwest Indian basketry. She gave the bulk of her collection to the Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University.
After retiring from MAC in 1983, she became an active volunteer and patron in the arts community, supporting the Oregon Ballet, serving as a museum docent and on several council boards at the Portland Art Museum. In the 1990s, she provided a pivotal gift for the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for Graphic Art with the Marge Riley Education Center. She quietly sponsored the center's loyal assistant curator, Pamela Morris, in her graduate studies in Boston. Marge's continuing love of nature led her to support the Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservancy.
Known for her kindness and style, her vast circle of loyal friends, her unique and lightning wit, and to her many younger friends as their "Portland mom" she earned the ultimate Portland honor: a drink named for her. Go to Ken's Artisan Bakery where she went every morning and ask for a "Marge," and you will receive a tall double-latte with skim milk - extra hot. The Northwest District's neighborhood dogs were also big fans, a friendship nurtured with the dog biscuits she always carried on her walks.
Marge's daughter, Judith Hylton, passed away at age 60 in 1999. During her final four-month battle with cancer, Marge visited her every day at the Hopewell House and after Judith's passing Marge became a supporter of Hopewell.
Marge is survived by her son, Michael O. Riley of Warrenton; and grandchildren, Justine Halliday of Los Angeles and Dylan Riley of Palo Alto, Calif.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to the Marge Riley Fund, which supports the natural environment, education, community cultural organizations and human needs, at the Oregon Community Foundation, 1221 S.W. Yamhill Street, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97205
A party will be held in her honor from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010 at:
Skyline Farm
12735 N.W. Skyline Blvd, Portland, OR 97231.
RSVP to celebrationofmarge@gmail.com by Aug. 16, 2010.
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