Audrey Muriel Reider
Jan. 15, 1933-Nov. 3, 2017
Portola Valley, CA
A resident at the Sequoias Retirement Community in Portola Valley, California, Audrey Muriel Reider (nee Dwyer), 84, passed away suddenly on Friday, Nov. 3 at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, California.
Born on Jan. 15, 1933, in the small, South Wales mining town of Bargoed to Eunice and Clifford (“Cliff”) Dwyer, Audrey grew up in, and always loved, the South Wales mining valleys. Her father worked as a colliery fitter and Audrey loved to reminisce about long walks over the mountains above the town with her father, dodging sheep and Welsh ponies running wild on the moors. She attended local schools and excelled academically.
Audrey also loved school sports, including swimming and playing rounders and netball. After she moved to the United States, she regaled anyone that would listen with stories of how baseball is just like rounders and basketball is just like netball!
Audrey was the first member of her family to attend college, graduating with a degree in history from Aberystwyth University in Wales. Audrey valued education highly, and worked as a teacher for the whole of her professional life, rising to the position of principal at Long Lane School, a small country school outside Derby in England.
When she moved to The Sequoias, Audrey attended every educational lecture she could find. To the very end, she loved learning.
After graduating college, Audrey moved to Birmingham, England, to work at a department store, where she met her first husband, Anthony (“Tony”) Reilly. Together with their new family, Audrey and Tony stayed in the Midlands area of England and finally settled in Derby, where Audrey lived nearly 45 years.
Along with the Welsh mining valleys, the Derbyshire Peak District was one of her favorite places. She loved to walk in the Derbyshire Dales and visit the historic homes and quaint tea rooms and pubs in the small villages dotting the area. Audrey and Tony were divorced in 1976. Audrey survived her first husband, Tony, her second husband, Alan Reider, and a son by her first marriage, Christopher Reilly. At the age of 77 Audrey made a big change, moving across the world from Derby to The Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley, California, to be nearer her son and daughter-in-law.
Audrey spent her last, happy seven years loving being close to family, the California weather, Bay Area attractions and great company at The Sequoias.
One of Audrey’s favorite things to do as a young girl was to attend the local cinemas in Bargoed with her mother, which began Audrey’s lifelong love of film and the cinema. Since 2012, Audrey has organized the Sequoias’ bi-monthly film presentations. She would personally review dozens of movies each month to pick just the right movie to show and became quite the movie critic.
Audrey developed a new interest in cultural arts when she moved to the Bay Area. She had season tickets for the San Francisco Symphony and Ballet, became a member of the Palace of the Legion of Honor and attended numerous local musical events at Stanford, the West Bay Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the California Pops. True to her English heritage, Audrey remained an avid gardener her whole life. She had a beautiful garden wherever she lived, and most recently she grew a gorgeous flower garden at The Sequoias. She was very proud of her garden but did confide more than once that it seemed like cheating to grow things in California, with its abundant sun and warmth as compared to the unpredictable English weather.
Audrey is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Philip Reilly and Judith Hasko, both of Portola Valley, her cousin, Haydn Dwyer, of Abergavenny, Wales, and by her special friend at The Sequoias, Kirt McCaleb.
Tags: teacher/educator
