Helen Riley Obituary, Death – Aged 93, Helen Shriver Riley passed away on March 27, 2024, at Fairhaven, a continuing care home in Sykesville, MD. Riley was the eldest surviving member of the Carroll County Shriver family in Union Mills, MD, and had long been a champion for historic preservation problems. Her 94th birthday was approaching quickly. She was born on March 31, 1930, to Union Mills residents James McSherry Shriver, Sr. and Helen Brogden Shriver; her father had passed away earlier that year.
She was the second of six Shriver siblings and spent her childhood at Chinquapin Hill, their homestead next to the ancient Union Mills Homestead. Her father was the president of the renowned canning company B.F. Shriver Co., and she helped out with farming operations when she was a little girl. After finishing high school at Garrison Forest in 1948, Mrs. Riley enrolled at Westminster’s St. John School. She attended Catholic University and Strayer’s Business School after high school and went on to work for Dr. Wilson Grubb, the Junior League of Baltimore, and the Federal Reserve Bank.
They resided in Annapolis, Honolulu, the Persian Gulf, and northern Virginia after her spouse, the late G. Donald Riley, Jr., was married to him in 1955. He retired from the Navy in 1972. As her husband was in the Navy, Mrs. Riley was responsible for raising their five children. Farm Content, a historic site constructed by her ancestor David Shriver—a legislator and patriot during the Revolutionary War—was where Mrs. Riley and her husband resided for forty-three years.
Through their restoration efforts and dedication to the property’s preservation, the Rileys were able to get the Riley House listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After their marriage, Mrs. Riley and her husband gave a preservation easement on Farm Content to three organizations: the Carroll County Land Trust, the Maryland Historical Trust, and the Maryland Environmental Trust. In order to guarantee the everlasting preservation of a historic Shriver family cemetery next to Farm Content, they also established and incorporated the Historic Shriver Graveyard, Inc.
Genealogy, gardening, tennis, preserving historic sites, and community involvement were some of Mrs. Riley’s interests. Among her many memberships, she held lifelong positions in the Roslyn Garden Club, the Carroll County Historical Society, and the Union Mills Homestead Foundation. She was an active member of many historical groups, including the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter 1, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, and the William Winchester Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which she served for more than 60 years.
