Audrey Blair Riley

1928 - 2020

Audrey Blair Riley

Ventura - Born June 30, 1928 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Otto and Josephine (Oleneack) Piereson, Audrey Riley's soul winged its way to celestial day on July 14, 2020, two years to the day of the passing of her beloved husband Robert Paul Riley. Audrey's early wanderlust led her to take a bus trip to Los Angeles in 1952, where she fell in love with Southern California and soon made it her home. She quickly made lifelong friends with some of her fellow telephone operators at Pacific Bell. While living life to the fullest and socializing at favorite haunts like the Dresden Room, she fell in love with Bob, originally of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, who she married on July 28, 1956. The couple adored their three daughters, raising their family in Canoga Park, where, with a backyard swimming pool and horses, they enjoyed the American dream. Audrey was fun loving, charming, spirited, and always had a smile on her face and an upbeat tone. Despite suffering from Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration in her later years, she never seemed to feel sorry for herself, instead delighting in the small pleasures of listening to movies, talking to her family and friends, or savoring her much loved Sees' candy.

Her interests were myriad and eclectic and she was a romantic at heart. She was an avid reader and would often escape for days into the plot of a book. For her an ideal Friday night was spent with a bowl of popcorn and a murder mystery book set in an English village. A love of American history was sparked after reading the books of E.B. Knipe as a young girl, an interest that later led her to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. She loved the movies of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, as well as western epics like Lonesome Dove and Heaven's Gate. Her musical tastes were just as varied, loving classical, Dixieland jazz, Neil Diamond, and country music. Her interests in Native American cultures and Egyptology led her to take courses on anthropology and archaeology. Audrey and Bob found pleasure in international travel, especially enjoying their trips to the UK and Israel. For over 50 years she enjoyed driving cross country to visit her native Michigan in the summer months. Armed with a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and a AAA triptik, her stops at interesting looking small towns along the way were frequent and often nostalgic. Finding an abandoned farmhouse on a country road would often prompt her to pull over to admire and daydream, and sometimes to sneak in to hunt for ghosts. She loved attending auctions and estate sales, and some of her collecting passions included antique linens, Manhattan and Jadeite depression glassware, vintage chenille bedspreads, Navajo turquoise jewelry and Hopi Kachina figures. She was a generous benefactor to the many charitable organizations she believed in, particularly those promoting educational opportunities for Native Americans. Audrey loved an occasional dry martini with a twist (no olive!), and would pick up the habit of smoking as quickly as she would quit. Although a frugal midwesterner at heart, she loved small luxuries, like her Chanel lipstick, Detchema perfume and her beloved Mercedes wagon. She would recount how when she had first moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and was working as a telephone operator, she had skipped lunch for a month to save for a cashmere coat she had fallen in love with at I. Magnin's department store. Although a private person by nature, she enjoyed the company of guests and was a delightful hostess. Easter was her favorite holiday to host, and her egg hunts were epic. She was notoriously uninterested in cooking, but she had a wicked sweet tooth and enjoyed making holiday pies and cookies. Audrey was strong willed and held firm to her opinions, and Bob would confide lovingly that after sixty years of marriage she was still often an enigma to him. Her determination and stubbornness could move mountains. With all her many interests, she also whole heartedly engaged herself in the passions of her loved ones, helping to foster their own interests in life. She was an incredible listener and her thoughtfulness will be missed by all who had the pleasure to have known her. Audrey is survived by her three much loved daughters, Denyse Riley of Princeton, CA, Tracy and her husband Brad Thompson of Thousand Oaks, and Robin Riley and her partner Richard Lancaster of Ojai; two grandchildren, Jessica and her husband Edwin Lara and Jude Gleason and his wife Ashley; five great grandchildren, Jake, Gracie & Johnny Lara, and Garner & Graham Gleason. Audrey was preceded in death by her husband Robert and her sister Jacqueline.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday July 23.2020 at 10am in Mission Basilica San Buenaventura, 211 E. Main Street Ventura followed by interment in Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth. Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 E. Main Street Ventura.