ANN AND FAMILY

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A GIRL NAMED ANN

Once there was a girl named Ann. Her sister, Alice, called her Annie sometimes. She was the middle child of the last grouping of children by Mary and Bob Baker and born in 1922. She was a tomboy we hear. Her hair was light blonde and she had smiling blue eyes and cute dimples in her cheeks. Ann lived in Stanton, then Covington, then Stanton. She had a lot of big brothers and 2 sisters.

Ann was May Queen at Powell Co. High which was sort of big back then.

After she graduated from high school she went to Nursing School in northern KY.

Ann joined the Army Air Corp. and served close to Denver, Colorado where she met Walter (patient back from the warfront). Walter was quite the charming Irish Bostonian.

Ann married Walter in Colorado and after awhile they decided to move to Stanton. They were expecting their first child and didn't quite make it to Stanton. They gave birth to their first child, Mary Ellen, in Covington, KY where family also lived, and ended up living there for a few months. Then they moved to Boston, MA later in 1946 where Walter's family lived.

Then, baby #2 Patricia (Patsy), baby #3 Joe (Joey) and eventually, baby #4 Michael (Mike).

PATRICIA'S FAMILY

Mary Ellen, Patricia, Kenny and Stephanie (above 1976/below 1990)

MY FAMILY BY PATRICIA My daughters have taught me so much. I thought I knew everything when I had Mary Ellen at 23. But I have learned so much between then and now. When I took them for swimming lessons it made me want to learn how to swim . . . and I did (not the best but I can move in the water). When they played handbells at church it made me want to learn . . . and I did. We share a lot and learn a lot from each other. They have shown me how resourceful they are and I realized that I have my own resources. It goes on and on but I think you get what I'm saying. I love them a lot. I'd like to think that Kenny and I have contributed to their maturity and happiness. A good measure of love goes a long way and I hope it moves on through their children. Mom liked to sing to us. She taught us lullabies as she sang to our children. I can already see how that has been passed down as my children sing to their babies.

Stephie, Drew, Samuel, Mary Ellen, and Simon

Left: Emmy with Stephanie and Devon
Below: Emmy with her Mommy

NOT SO PLAIN OLD MARY AND A TRIBUTE TO MY MOM, ANN RILEY

When I was young, I didn't like my name. I thought it was plain and no one I knew had that name.As I learned the history of my name, I grew to like it and it made me feel special. When Mom and Dad realized that both of their mothers had the same name they decided to name me Mary Ellen.

When Patsy (this goes way back to the time that I called her Sissy; now she wants to be called Patricia) and I were still living in Boston, we struck a deal to name our daughters after each other. First came her daughter Mary Ellen, then came my daughter Patricia Ann. Looks like Patsy's girls struck the same deal. They now have a Stephanie (Stephie) and a Mary Ellen (Emmy).

That's four generations of the name Mary Ellen in our family.Grandma Baker was born in 1880 something, so that name goes way back. I'm glad that Mom and Daddy started that tradition and it will be interesting to see how far it goes on.

I know a lot of people think our family is a little crazy for naming our kids after each other and have said so. For example, my son Joey is named after my brother Joe. Maybe we are a little crazy but it comes from the love and closeness that still exists for us Rileys. We are Ann Riley's children and I give her all the credit for that closeness. She created a warm and loving family and taught us through her example to love God and our fellow man. As my brother Joe put it so eloquently,"If you were good and did the right thing, things would work out for the best'. She told me the same thing and oh how true and wise that advice turned out to be. We were blessed to have Ann Baker Riley as our mother. - Mary Ellen

DANNY AND MARY ELLEN

Before Mary Ellen was my wife she was my neighbor and I used to see Mom Riley in the backyard hanging laundry and just spending time with her grandkids. She seemed like a nice lady and always spoke to me over the fence. When Mary Ellen and I started dating, her mom was in the hospital and we went to visit her every day. As we were in the car on the way to our first visit, Mary Ellen told me her Mom knew more about sports than anyone she knew. I thought, "Yeah right, I think I will test her." Now, I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about sports. Especially U.K. Basketball. As we visited her, I started bringing up different sports events. Not only did she know every player i mentioned, she knew all the statistics, games and years. Man, was Iimpressed! I couldn't catch her. She knew everything that I knew and more. From that day on, i spent a lot of time discussing sports with her and really enjoying her company. I can honestly say that my time with her was too short and I grew to really love and respect her. - Danny Church (go Big Blue!)

MARY ELLEN'S FAMILY
Ashley, Tricia, Scott, Mary Ellen, Joey (Joe)

Joey's daughters Destinie (left) and Camila (right)

IN MEMORY OF ANN, MY GRANDMA RILEY - BY TRICIA (pictured below: Tricia's kids - Ashley, holding Desiree and Dominic)
Those who remember Ann know she was a caring, giving and beautiful person who always put herself last and others first. Being one of her first grandkids
(I was 3rd, Patrick and Mary were ahead of me), Grandma and I developed a closeness that would last up until she passed in 92. She was always around, even before she lived with us full-time.

She would always come and pick me up. I would always want to go to Grandma's house; it was fun! She always let us stay up late, eat whatever we wanted, make a horrible mess in her house, and take us places. She was so silly and let us play silly games with her. When Mom couldn't take us somewhere, it was Grandma who would take us. If I needed something, even if she didn't have much money, Grandma would find a way to buy it. There were many a time when she would run up her Sears credit card because me or my brothers needed some clothing item or something special. She would give you her last 25 cents just so you could buy a candy bar.

She was bit of a wild woman every once in a while! My cousin Patrick and I both fell out of her big purple Dodge Demon because she tended to take corners WAY too fast! She would speed, run red lights, and forget she was in reverse sometimes and scare the daylights out of all her passengers, but she managed to always make it to the destination safely!

Later, after my parents divorced when I was around 11 or so, Grandma moved in with us. I remember being so happy about that. Grandma was diabetic and had to drink diet soda. I used to drink her Fresca all the time......she would never get mad at me for that. Guess what, I still drink Fresca and love it to this day! I would love to sit around and look at Grandma's old pictures. I thought they were really cool, being in black and white and all. I LOVED her army photos; I thought she was so pretty in those photos. She had the most beautiful, dimpled smile. I thought her dimples were so neat and I wished I had them, too!

I have so many good memories, it's impossible to share them all, but my Grandma was a very special person. She was always there for us. I even used to go to her apartment at the senior community center late at night and take chips and salsa and spend the night over there when I was about 20 or so. We would sit up late and talk. I can still hear her voice and see her pretty dimple smile.

Now as a mom myself, I can appreciate all the things that my grandma did to help my Mom. And apparently Grandma left me her smile in my children. Both my youngest kids have Grandmas dimples!

MEMORIES ABOUT FAMILY
I have so may fond memories of growing up as the youngest of 4 siblings. I loved and adored my Mother just as I know my brother and sisters did. I was too young to remember anything about Boston which was my birthplace. Kentucky is and has been my only home as far as I am concerned. Memories of Stanton at Grandma Bakers and Aunt Alice's are etched in me for all time, as I'm sure it is with many if not all of my siblings and cousins.

The later years of Campbell Co. picnics were always wonderful and exciting. Remembering the older or oldest generation being there and interacting with everyone can never be replaced. Oh yeah, brother, sisters, and cousins, I think we've pretty much taken over the ownership of the "Older Generation." WOW!

Family is so important to me. My Mother made sure we understood that by her example. I have 3 wonderful children (Becky, Tammy and Michael) and one awesome granddaughter, Michelle. I could go on indefinitely about Michelle, but I'll save it for the Family Reunion. I look forward to seeing everyone! - Mike

MIKE'S FAMILY

Becky, Michael and Tammy

All grown up!

Becky and Michelle

Mike and Mike

JOE'S FAMILY

Tim, Steven, Joe, and Mary Lou

Steven, Tim, Katelyn, and Chris

Back: Tim, Patrick, Rob, Steven Front: Katelyn, Chris

Rob and fiancee Christina (Congratulations!)

Patrick's children: Maya and Kai

Patrick and Yasuko with Joe and Mary Lou

Notes from a Boston Irishman . . . .
Having been born in Boston and living there until I was almost 6 years old brought a real change when my Mom left that all behind and moved us back to Kentucky. Having been a big "city slicker" and having, it seems, like dozens of uncles, aunts, and cousins in Boston, it was such a big change to live in Stanton, Ky. Talk about a culture shock. I was totally out of place when I had to drink water from the well, go to the bathroom in the little shack out back, not have any TV or radio (except for Sunday morning preaching on the radio), and adjust to a lot of cousins and other relatives that I did not know at all. Everything seemed so different and scary to a boy about to start first grade. Looking back now, I realize what a good decision my mother made. With the support of her parents and sisters and brothers, she made a new home for us here in Lexington. Despite her health concerns and having very little financial support, my Mom created a very loving home and created closeness between me and my sisters and brother that I rarely see and it continues to this day.

When I was a boy, I honestly thought my mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. Since then, I have come to realize that she was something much more important than that. She set a good example for us in everything she did. As an example, she had to ride the bus to work for several years when we lived in the housing project. Many times as an adult when I did not want to get out of bed to go to work, I would remember her waiting for the bus in all kinds of weather, riding downtown and then transferring buses to go way to the south end of town to get to work. She then reversed the process in the late afternoon.

She also directed me toward sports to give me something to do to stay out of trouble and attended almost every game I was involved in, from Little League up through high school football and baseball. Even as an "old man" she came to many of my softball games and church league basketball.

Mom never forced her advice on me, but was always there to give a tender thought or a word of support. She never really gave me direction as far as education or work goes, but in life she always said that if you were good and did the right thing, things would work out for the best. Now I see how right she was. And finally, her Christian faith that she taught me has sustained me through life’s ups and downs.

I have been blessed with so many great family members. First of all, Grandma and Grandpa Baker, who raised a loving family and set a firm foundation in place. Aunt Lila, who originally moved us in with her and her family, was a wonderful Aunt who had a great heart. Uncle Ernie and Aunt Christine were special people who knew how to make others feel special. Aunt Alice was always caring and like my mother, had a great sense of humor. Aunt Ruth was one of the sweetest people I have ever known and Uncle Bill included me in all the boy’s activities and we grew really close after they moved to Lexington. Richard Wilson was really a special cousin who set many good examples for me and brought in to this family one of the best people in the world, Patsy.

I have shared so many great times with these people, from family get togethers in Stanton, holidays spent together, family picnics in Campbell County and at Aunt Alice’s, playing ball and all the other activities with these people and at their children and grandchildren. I don't mean to exclude anyone because so many touched my life in a positive way, but these were the people who had an influence in my day to day life.

I look forward to seeing everyone and sharing past memories and catching up on what is going on now in everyone’s life. - Joe

A BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

One year Easter fell the weekend before Mom's birthday in April. (Funny, but I still write her birthday down on my calendar.) We all had new Easter clothes and felt quite proud of them. Mom had a linen dress with a jacket. You had to iron and iron to get the linen smooth and it only looked good until you sat down for awhile and then it was full of creases. But linen was kind of an Easter material and she was pleased with it.

For some reason we were out of school the week after Easter; maybe it was Spring break. We were all just hanging around the house when we realized "Today's Mom's birthday. We don't have a present for her. What should we do?" Well, we knew what she would like. A clean home.

So we all jumped in and cleaned as best we could. There was a lot of stuff stacked around the house, mostly junky stuff. We tended to throw junky stuff in the walk-in closet off the kitchen. Then when you wanted to put more stuff in there, you had to clean out the previous stuff. Needless to say, we realized we had to throw some of that junky stuff away to make the house look nice and neat.

We finished right before she got home from work. And you should have seen the smile on her face. Mom could make you feel so good the way she smiled. She seemed truly happy.

The next Sunday as we got up for church we started looking for our Easter clothes. Where were they? We wore them to Stanton and then changed into our play clothes. Mom remembered folding them and putting them in a grocery bag and put them in the trunk of the car. She remembered carrying them in and putting them in the closet off the kitchen. Uh-oh.

We looked through everything in that closet more than once and finally conceded that we must have thrown away our new Easter clothes including Mom's new shoes when we cleaned house. You know, I don't remember Mom being mad. She looked a little disheartened and made this little 'tch' noise that she always did when she got a little exasperated. Then she laughed and went to find us more clothes for church.

The moral of this story is: DON'T EVER PUT YOUR EASTER CLOTHES IN A PAPER BAG!
- Patricia :)

Easter Sunday

Stephanie and Mary Ellen with Grandma Riley

A GRANDMA STORY BY STEPHANIE

I remember my Grandma taking care of me when I was sick. I can’t really remember what grade I was in or if she was living with us at the time or not, but I remember her bringing egg on toast up to me in bed. I still always want egg on toast when I am sick.

I remember spending the night at Grandma’s duplex on Mona Ct. and her dropping a cigarette ash in my beefaroni (I guess she was still smoking then) and later that night sleeping in the twin beds in the spare room making my sister laugh by playing the air fiddle to "Devil Went Down to Georgia" when we were supposed to be going to sleep.

I remember worrying about Grandma being sick and I even made up a little prayer song that I would sing to myself about God helping her get better. Maybe it worked since she far surpassed the life expectancy that her doctors predicted with her heart condition.

What I remember most about my Grandma is her silliness. To this day, when I talk about my grandmother to my best friend and she wants to know if I’m talking about my mom’s mom or my dad’s mom, she’ll say, “Do you mean Frank Shoop” or the other one? Grandma always sang that commercial jingle to us (you should remember that if you are from Lexington, at the very least my sister should remember that commercial) and made us laugh. It went: "Frank Shoop, Frank Shoop, Frank Shoop, Shoop, Shoop." I also remember Uncle Mike passing gas (no surprise to anyone, I’m sure) and blaming it on Grandma because you knew she could take a joke like that. I remember being at Winburn basketball games and teasing Grandma saying that she had a crush on one of the players. Mary and I would sing, “Grandma loves Elton, Elton loves Grandma” and crack ourselves up.

Her silliness was definitely passed down to my mother and to me and since my husband says our daughter acts just like her momma, I guess a little bit of Grandma Riley’s silliness has been passed down to another generation.

REMEMBERING GRANDMA RILEY AT CHRISTMAS BY PATRICK

To me the holiday of Christmas is forever associated with the Christmas Eve gatherings of the greater Riley clan in the 70’s and early 80’s. Having a number of siblings like my dad did, all who got along well and socialized with each other, so much seemed normal to me at the time. But now I realize it was a happy exception. It really was a great environment for me and all of my cousins. And while many of the families met often in small groups during the year, Christmas was a rare chance for everyone to get together and to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins at the same time.

The "first wave" cousins born in the early 70’s were always bouncing off the walls with energy until we could open our presents. There’s one Christmas that sticks out in my mind in particular. Grandma Riley bought all four of the boys (me, Rob, Joey, and Scotty) Evil Knieval figures complete with motorcycles and incredibly loud launching pads which you used to wind up the toy’s internal engine. We must have played with them non-stop for the rest of the night, launching them across the basement floor of Aunt Mae-Mae’s house, racing with each other and trying to crash them into each other. It was a terrible racket and I’m sure we must have drove everyone insane! (Come to think of it, that may explain a lot...)

It's hard for Christmas to live up to the ideal of those early experiences, but I'll always treasure those memories. And I'm really looking forward to the family reunion - it will be the first time in years that all of us will be together again in one place.