Grace Riley Collection

Grace Riley’s “Sand Wrack”

My mom, Grace Brown Riley loved the sand and the sea.  She was born in Chicago but, made her way after graduating from nursing school to Hawaii where she worked at the Coast Guard Hospital in Lihue, Kauai.  And, there she met her husband and my dad, Newell Riley, and they spent countless hours exploring the beaches on the islands.  This is where she developed her keen interest in collecting sand.

In 1953, Grace and Newell married and moved to Massachusetts where they spent many weekends and summers exploring Cape Cod and the island, and various other beaches in New England.  When Newel retired at the age of 50, they wintered on various islands in the Caribbean where Grace started collecting sands in earnest!  She also joined a sand collecting club and exchanged sand with other members for many years. 

In 1985, the couple moved to Nokomis, FL, where they spent much time on the water either fishing, sailing, searching for ancient shark’s teeth, and, of course, collecting sand.

Both of my parents have now passed, so I wanted to share her collection with other sand enthusiasts and was so happy to find Leo and ISCS.  Thank you for sharing Mom’s collection and keeping her memory alive.

Cheers,

Lisa