Marilda Riley Buckley, 80, of Waco, died Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at Stillwell Retirement Community, Waco. She was born on May 17, 1933, in Overton, to Madeleine Greenwood Riley and Cecil Riley. 

Marilda received a BA in English and a MA in Library Science at The University of Texas at Austin. She was an English teacher early in her career and later was the Librarian at the Middle School for Andrews Independent School District from 1970- 1994. Marilda retired in 1994 and took care of her grandson, James, part-time until 1998.

She loved roses and had rose bushes growing in our backyard.  Mairlda would cut them and put them in vases or jars all over the place!  Unfortunately, Loretta and Tiptoo (the dogs) kept digging under them for shade and did them in.

Mom loved to read!  She was well informed about science and health and current events and the economy. She was a great conversationalist and would sit around the table after lunch on Sundays with our parish priest, Aunt Ginny, the Eads, and family talking the afternoon away!  She also enjoyed cooking and singing.  Marilda could whistle better than anyone I know!  She always had her easy-listening station playing through the night and only turned it off to watch the Today Show every morning.

She loved Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews. Marilda loved show-tunes and all musicals and could remember all the words to "Surrey with the Fringe on Top!"

We grew up hearing poems from AA Milne (Winnie the Pooh), she sang nursery rhymes and lots of old songs to the grandchildren.  We are a musical family. Mother loved to sing and sang in the choir as a youth. Three of her children were singers and five of her grandchildren sing and/or play an instrument. Two are professional musicians.

She was the best grandmother ever!!  The grandkids called her by many names:  Grandmother, Grandmother Buckley, Nanny, and Grandmommy.  She adored her grandbabies and could rock anyone to sleep, singing them songs and rubbing their back. They would play with her St. Mary medal and look into her eyes as she sang to them.  Her St.Mary medal was given to her by a Catholic nun, Sr. Benedicta, when mother was going through a very tough time in her life.  She asked, "If I give this to you, will you promise never to take it off?"  And Mother replied, "Yes!"  And she never did. 

Marilda converted to Catholicism before marrying my father, she was faithful Catholic her whole adult life.

In the community, Marilda was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma (an educators' sorority) and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Alpha Chi Omega alumni.

Special memories include:

Sunday lunches, visits to the grandchildren, grandkids climbing the fruitless mulberry tree in her front yard, having litters and litters of puppies, letting the grandkids pick out any breakfast cereal they wanted (except Fruit Loops because the smell made her sick), Christmas mornings, driving to Odessa for church, attending prayer meetings together, seeing her waiting in the church parking lot late at night to pick us up from retreats, finding her in the hallway every Sunday afternoon amid piles and piles of clothes, sorting and doing laundry for five kids, watching her standing at the stove making gravy with flour and milk, stirring with a slotted spoon.

Toward the end of her life, it was harder and harder for her to get around.  Marilda was in a lot of arthritic pain, but she always made the effort to be at family events -- graduations, weddings, showers, and birthdays. She loved her family so deeply and cherished time spent with us.  Her favorite food:  Fried Chicken!  She would always want to get fried chicken every time we would drive through somewhere to eat.

She is survived by her children, Candace Flanary and her husband, Ron, of Deer Park; Patricia Pugh and her husband, Mark, of Euless; William L. Buckley and his wife, Colleen, of Houston; Kathleen Harrison and her husband, Mike, of Houston; and Rebecca Mcilwain of Murphys, California; grandchildren, Katie Austin, William Flanary, Michael Flanary, Audalee Trimble, Jennifer Galvan, Seth Trimble, Stephanie Trimble, Blake Buckley, Meredith Buckley, Riley Dawson, Julianne Preddy, Erin Mcilwain, Megan Mcilwain, and James Mcilwain; ten great-grandchildren; and cousin, James Cecil Riley of Crewe, Virginia.

A gathering of Mrs. Buckley’s family and friends will begin at 12:00 p.m., with her funeral service to follow at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 18, 2014, at Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont, with Reverend Monsignor James P. Bridges, Pastor of St. Stephens Catholic Church, Midland, officiating. Interment will follow at Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Marilda's name to Down Syndrome Partnership of Tarrant County, http://www.firstgiving.com/DSPTC.