Francis Charles Riley , “Uncle Francis,” was born in Pawtucket on this date in 1915.* His mother and father were the late Marguetta Etta Greenhalgh (1876-1962) and the late Patrick Leo Riley (1875-1955). Uncle Francis was actually born at 146 Pond Street, not the “iconic number 19” that is so familiar to some of us.

This site has already written about Francis’s early life – the youngest of the eight Riley siblings, graduating from St. Raphael Academy, being a very good second baseman, marrying Rita Colemen in October of 1941 and entering the US Army just four months later and serving until 1945. And of course we cannot forget back in the early 50’s, the birth of their son, Stephen Francis.

What I fondly remember about “Uncle Frank” was how nice he always was. He had a great personality, seemed to love work and actually had this great wallpapering skill. I think he papered every room in our house on Perrin Avenue! What surprised some was how the guy could dance. Frank could glide across the dance floor as smoothly as a professional ice skater. It was neat to see him display his dance moves.

Francis and Rita were married for almost 33 years before Rita passed away on January 6, 1974. Francis passed on March 2, 2004 at the age of 88.

*see December 24, 2019 post