Edith Dolan Riley

Edith Rose Dolan Riley (September 18, 1885 - 1967) was the chairman of the Spokane County Democratic Central Committee and later involved in Motion Picture Committees to promote "wholesome" motion pictures and the safety of theaters for children.

Early life

Edith Rose Dolan Riley was born in Illinois, on September 18, 1885, the daughter of Michael James Dolan (1849-1918) and Katharine/Catherine A. O'Rourke (1847-1925).

She attended St. Clara Academy and Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois.

Career

She was a political writer and interested in all political affairs.

She started her career as a teacher in public schools in Chicago, where she first became involved in politics by lobbying for a teacher's pension bill in the state legislature.

In 1924 she was elected chairman of the Spokane County Democratic Central Committee, the first woman in the state to hold such an office. She was a political associate of James Geraghty, Lewis B. Schwellenbach, and Clarence C. Dill. She was the ACTIVE in the Spokane Women's Democratic Club and was its president in 1934.

In 1934 she helped organizing Spokane League of Women Voters, of which she was an officer. She established a precinct organization for party campaign and was very active in getting out the woman's vote in all Non-Partisan campaigns. She was elected presidential elector at the State Convention.

She was also interested in educational matters.

She was a member of the City Federation of Woman's Organizations and the Observers Club.

In the 1930s she was involved in the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs as chair of its Motion Picture Committee. Her concern for motion pictures grew out of her interest in education and juvenile delinquency. After moving to California in the 1940s, she continue to be active in the Federation of Motion Picture Councils, the East Bay Motion Picture Council, San Francisco Motion Picture and Television Council and the Motion Picture Committee of the San Francisco Council of Catholic Women. The aims of these organizations were the promotion of "wholesome" motion pictures and the safety of theaters for children.

Personal life

In the 1910s Edith Dolan Riley lived in Brooklyn and then moved to Washington state in 1920 and lived at W. 634 Twenty-first Ave., Spokane, Washington. In 1913 she married Edward J Riley (1885-1969), an electrical engineer, and had three children: Mary Katharine, Edward, J. Clifford.

In 1937 the Rileys moved to Butte, Montana, and then to California in the early 1940s.

She died in 1967 and is buried with her husband at Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho.

Legacy

The Edith Dolan Riley papers, 1876-1965, are preserved at University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, Seattle, Washington.