Daughter of the late Ann and Tony Ripley, Mary Ripley passed away on Aug. 20, 2024, age 67, in Boulder, after a long illness. She was a loving sister, daughter, and aunt, who spent much time with the family in Lyons over the 30 years during which the Ripleys lived there. She was predeceased by her mother, Ann Ripley, in 2023, and her father, Tony, in 2003.
Mary Randolph Ripley was born in Pontiac, Mich., on April 6, 1957, the second of six daughters born to Ann Mary Ripley (nee Brunner) and Anthony Ripley. In Michigan, she lived over time in Royal Oak, Birmingham, and Detroit, attending parochial and, later, public schools. The family moved house several times for Tony’s work. In 1969, the family moved to Boulder, and in 1972, to Bethesda, Md., where Mary completed high school in 1975. After seven months in London, U.K., the family returned to the US in early 1976; by mid-year, the family had returned to Boulder, where Mary held various jobs. She moved to Alexandria, Va., in 1978, to where the family had moved that summer. She later lived in Staunton, Va., from 1982 to 1992; and in Longmont, Colo., from 1992 to 2020. She spent her final years in a retirement community in Boulder.
Mary enjoyed family gatherings, music, shopping, embroidery, and animal companions. She was highly outgoing and sociable, sharing a lot of wit and humor despite struggling with ill health. She will be dearly missed and is survived by her sisters: Sarah, of Lakewood, Colo.; Catherine Metzger, of Norwood, Colo.; Emily, of New York; Jane, of Longmont; and Martha, of Denver; her niece, Virginia Nastase, of Oak Park, Mich., and her nephew, M. Antoni Habsburg-Lothringen, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; four brothers-in-law: Ken Rogers, John Metzger, Ben Bajorek, and Vance Watt; an aunt, Maud Plumer; and many cousins.
A celebration of life is planned for Dec. 28 at 11:00 AM at Lyons Community Church, 350 Main Street, Lyons, Colo. Contributions may be made to NAMI, donate.nami.org.
RIP Cousin Mary, love Janette
Hello Mary, may you rest in peace. Love Jill
I will always remember trying to make converstation with the pretty girl in the office and stumbling on the fact we were both from Detroit and both went to Hampton elementary school. I was going through my memory of classmates. Did you know th Hocks ? Yes I knew the Hocks. Did you know the Cotanzerrties ? Did you know the Ripleys ? And you stood up to your full height and said quite proudly “My name is Mary Ripley” . Your life was not an easy one and as one of your sisters astutley observed “we were raised to be housewives. Now they expect us to be lawyers”. Such was the lot of your genration. But you have gone on to another plane of existance where peace reigns supreme and all truths are known.