Part 52: Riley’s Second Wife, Riley’s Performances, Press Clippings, Klym Hawley

Today is Sunday, November 15, 2020. The 45th president of the United States still refuses to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden. False narratives about election fraud and that Trump actually won are tweeted and repeated by his supporters. Meanwhile, the Corona virus is at an all time high. Hospitals in some states are overwhelmed, like in the Mid-west. 130 secret service officers are quarantining due to positive tests. The situation seems dire, and here in Washington State we're all worried about new closures. Meanwhile, some Americans still believe these virus statistics are exaggerated. There are things happening around the world, Ethiopia has civil unrest, and Armenia and Azerbaijan over a disputed area, and there is and has been savage police violence in Belarus against protestors who challenge the sketchy election process involving Aleksandr G. Lukashenko.

We have a treasure trove of new stuff from researcher Marilyn McGuire. Last night, she found new documents, and I'm mixing them in with others she sent a while ago but I haven't posted yet. It helps to verify Dad's journal. He moved around so much, it makes my head spin.

Warning: This is an info dump blog. It's everything I wanted to save just incase. Like a hoarder.

The document below seems to be a work visa for Winifred Cessek, Riley's second wife. They met on the boat to Brazil, and either she was working in Rio, or maybe on the boat and in Rio. In his journal, he suggests he didn't love her and seemed to feel badly about the way he behaved.

Here's what Marilyn is wondering, below:

"Check it! This is from Family Search, the Mormon site. Cook county wants us to pay for a copy of the license. What’s weird is that they got married May 23, 1941 and she left for Rio on May 27, 1941!!! What gives? Do you think she was pregnant? But why go all the way to Rio? Did their marriage only last 4 days? I wonder when they were divorced? He’s remarried by about 1947."

I think Winifred was working, I just wish I knew what the gig was. Performing? Who knows. Later, she was a stenographer for the State Department. Here is what Marilyn found online regarding the marriage of Riley and Winifred:

Winifred Sedgwick Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968 Name:Richard R Shepard Event Type: Marriage Event Date:23 May1941Event Place:Cook, Illinois, United States. Gender: Male Age:22 Birth Year (Estimated):1919 Spouse's Name: Winifred Sedgwick Spouse's Gender:Female Spouse's Age:24 Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated):1917

Here's Dad's journal entries, below, from around that time, he sailed on the SS DelValle which was a ship for the Merchant Marines. He told me that he was a cook aboard the ship. The way his journal works is that he separates out activities during the same dates on different sheets of paper, so there's some repetition.

Sorry about the shadows from my phone....

Marilyn also found this ad for a show (below) Riley was doing under the stage name Klym Hawley. This was probably around 1964 when he was with my mother in Chicago. I wonder if he knew that his second wife, Winifred, had died in 1952? Reading his journal, it seems he didn't know. Marilyn also found Winifred's obituary, she kept Riley's last name, Shepard, and like many of Riley's wives, she never remarried. She had worked at the State Department.

The name Riley used, Klym Hawley, as I've mentioned before, was a name he came up with when he saw a milk carton in the grocery store and started playing around with "milk" spelled backwards, "Klim" and then he added a "Y" to it. That's just how he rolled. He loved making up fake names.

This was also online, a little write up. Interesting to see that Stiller and Meara played at the same place.

Marilyn found a copyright (see below) for a song using his pen name, Klym Hawley. I'd like to hear it.

“Come Along, My Julianne; w & m Klym Hawley. Chicago, Frederick Music. @New Lyric Pub. Co., Inc.; 30Mar64; EPI86228”

From Catalog of Copyright Entries 3D Ser Vol 18 Pt 5

By Library of Congress. Copyright Office.

Publication date 1964

Topics Copyright Records – Music

Publisher U.S. Govt. Print. Off.

Collection copyrightrecords; fedlink; americana

Digitizing sponsor United States Copyright Office

Contributor United States Copyright Office

Language English

Volume Catalog of Copyright Entries 1964 Music Jan-June 3D Ser Vol 18 Pt 5

Below, a bunch of random clippings promoting albums that Marilyn found online: (Riley is in the middle of this list, "I Trusted You" is the song.

Below, a list of Western hits. Riley is listed six down with six songs.

Below, Riley did some live shows, this was probably in the mid-1940s, or maybe when he was married to wife number three, Alix. Alix lived in Queens with their son, Richard.

Riley is in the first column "I Trusted You" #531, below.

Riley's "Oklahoma Roundup" listed below at the very bottom right hand corner, below.

Below: This is a new ad I hadn't seen before that Marilyn found. It says "Riley Shepards".

This guy, below, comes up when you research Riley Shepard, and he's not in our line of Shepards. It's confusing, though, because he always comes up, him and his 29 kids. This Riley Shepard isn't the same guy as my great-grandfather, Rev. Riley Shepard. I only add this here as it is interesting that this guy also came from North Carolina, and when researching, many people get mixed up. We must be related somehow. This Riley, below, was married four times. Our great-grandfather was only married two times, and only had 18 kids, and several were twins...

Not our Shepards, as far as I know, above.

This one really is about Dad's grandfather, Rev. Riley Shepard of North Carolina. Marilyn found this, too, like all the others. The snippet about the cows was from “The Twice-a-Week Dispatch (Burlington, North Carolina) Wednesday, July 13, 1910,· Page 5. We'll end with a news article about his cows and lightening on his farm, below.

Ok that's it for the kitchen sink, it's overflowing. More soon. Thanks again, Marilyn McGuire. Researchers are the coolest.

Next up, blog 53: A snowy owl lands in our neighborhood. Also, Riley's journal looking back at 1941 when he was in Long Beach, CA. I kept the next one super short to make up for this long hot mess right here.