Beverly Jean Riley

Beverly Jean (Woodrow) Riley, 85, of Newport Beach, Calif., formerly of Bemidji, died Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, at the Vintage at Newport Care Home in Newport Beach.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at First Lutheran Church, Bemidji with the Rev. Beth Bachman Caulfield officiating. A visitation will be held from 3-6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at Cease Family Funeral Home in Bemidji and one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery in Bemidji.

She was born Sept. 17, 1924, to Charles and Lena (Olson) Woodrow, in Rockford, Ill. She was raised in Aitkin, Minn. and graduated from Aitkin High School in 1942. She attended the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1947, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. She was employed as a social worker in Japan with the Tokyo Military Government Team from 1948-1950, as part of the Japanese reconstruction following World War II. In Japan, she met her first husband James Riley, of Minnetonka, Minn., who was a soldier in General Douglas MacArthur’s Honor Guard. They were married on July 25, 1950, in Aitkin, eventually living in New York City and Dublin, Ireland, where James pursued his education until his death in an automobile accident in 1955. She moved to the Seattle, Wash. area, where she was a social worker, and married James’ brother Robert Jr., a mechanical engineer, Oct. 4, 1958. In 1965, they moved back to their native Minnesota, settling in Bemidji, where she was a housewife and Robert eventually became plant manager of Nu-Ply, a hardboard manufacturing plant. She was active in many organizations including the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) and Bemidji State University’s foreign student program. She was also a member of the First Lutheran Church and an avid painter and bridge player. She enjoyed gardening and traveling. She traveled to China, England, India, Italy and Norway, and met Judy Garland and Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2002, she moved to Southern California.

She is survived by her daughter, Sarah (Vince) Ciavarella of Irvine, Calif.; son, Robert Riley of Hayward, Calif. and two granddaughters.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husbands, James and Robert.

Memorials may be given to the Alzheimer’s Association.