Margaret Mary Risley

Margaret M. Risley of Grasonville, MD, died on March 3, 2013, at Corsica Hills Nursing Home. Margaret Mary Risley (nee Leppert) was born in Cincinnati, OH, on May 27, 1918, the daughter of James and Margaret Leppert. She attended parochial schools all her scholastic years. She went to work in the public library in her hometown of Glendale, OH, part-time and after graduation from high school branched out to other libraries in the area full time. She attended evening college at St. Xavier’s College in Cincinnati, for seven years, working toward a BA degree. When the war (World War II) broke out, she volunteered for the Women’s Army Corp and was sent to Des Moines, IA, for basic training. She spent three years in the Army Air Force and traveled to Baltimore, MD, Camp Park, LA, and the air base in Orlando, FL. After she was discharged, she traveled to Grasonville to visit a co-worker she met in Florida. Mr. Charles Risley worked with her on a Mobile Radar Unit in Orlando, They decided to get married in Ohio and then live in Grasonville. The newlyweds lived in Grasonville and Chester. Mr. Risley was an oyster waterman and Margaret worked in the Queen Anne’s County School System for 26 years. Then she went to work at the Adult DayCare Center in Grasonville, where she spent 10 years as a secretary. She was active in community affairs and church organizations. At that time, Catholic churches were few and far apart. Margaret had to go to Queenstown to St. Peter the Apostle Church, the nearest one. A group of interested parishioners planned to establish a church on Kent Island. They all planned to have church in the Kent Island Shopping Center until a church was built in Harbor View. They called it St. Christopher’s in honor of the patron saint of travelers. Margaret was active in the church. She taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, and helped clean the church. She belonged to the Altar Society for many years. Mrs. Risley is survived by a son, Peter and his wife, Kay, of Grasonville, MD; a daughter, Peggy Risley Dong and her husband, Leland, of Denver, CO; her grandchildren, Jeffrey Risley and his wife, Angie, and Jason Risley, all of Grasonville, MD; a great-grandchild, Aubrey Ann Risley, daughter of Jason; and a sister, Nancy Hanschopp and her husband, Albert, of Cincinnati, OH. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Charles E. Risley, who passed away in December 2009; and her daughter, Patricia Risley Downes and her husband, Crosley Downs, formerly of Queen Anne, MD. The family will receive friends from 11:30 a.m. – 12: 30 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at the Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A. in Chester, MD. A funeral mass will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, March , at St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Chester, MD. Burial will follow in Stevensville Cemetery, Stevensville, MD. In lieu of flowers, friends are requested to send donations to St. Christopher’s Catholic Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 660, Chester, MD 21619.

Margaret Mary Risley

May 27, 1918 - March 3, 2013