In Memory of Maureen Hines Riley, by Kate Hines

The paths that each of our lives take is often not what we planned or expected.
There are people we’ve all known who show incredible human grace and by living, create an unmistakable emotional center. Sometimes the embrace is to family, and sometimes it reaches beyond to the community.

My aunt Maureen was one of those people. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the summer of 1988 and passed away in the last month of 1989, twenty years ago. She is survived by her husband Jack and their five children, Jay, Mark, Rob, Brian and Mary Beth and their families.

She met her future husband by chance one summer day in 1948 on a Cape Cod beach; and then at a second brief encounter in Boston. At the same time my uncle, at the start of his long, incredible hockey career, was assembling the team that would represent the United States at the 1949 US National Hockey Team in Stockholm, Sweden. In passing, a friend—also a player—mentioned he had just met a lovely young woman named Maureen Hines. Immediately Jack offered “Get me a date with her and you’ll be the number two player after me on this team.”  

And they were married in July 1949.

They settled in New York to begin and raise their family. There, my uncle was the head hockey coach at West Point. Maureen extended her heart and her home to the young cadets; many fresh from high school, away from home for the first time, often for long stretches. She baked cookies, listened to their stories, and softened the rigors of military training. She too, was an natural athlete, whether in the family’s backyard football and baseball games or on her own on the golf course. Her life and loves were centered around family.

I remember her warmth and easy laughter. She was gentle, kind and encouraging to her many nieces and nephews and to her large extended family. Although the phrase hadn’t yet been coined she possessed an abundance of inner beauty, received by many each year of her too short life.

This collection of jewelry was designed and executed exclusively for Ovations for the Cure of Ovarian Cancer and is dedicated in her memory, 20% of the proceeds will go to Ovations. Since the color for ovarian cancer is teal, I chose Turquoise and paired it with my signature stone, freshwater pearl. Pearl, like all the genuine stones, symbolizes everlasting beauty.

—Kate Hines