Columbus, N.C. - Mary-Dudley Wiley Cowles, born in 1914 in Oswego, NY, died in Columbus, NC August 6, 2008. She was the daughter of the late Charles S. and Anna May Wiley and the widow of Arthur B. Cowles who died in l998. She was a graduate of the University of Rochester (New York) and art courses at Rochester Institute of Technology. She did the fashion training and fashion shows of Rochester's Sibley, Lindsay and Curr Co., and later was editor of the "Shopping Column" of the Rochester Times Union, a Gannett newspaper.In l947 she and her husband bought and restored the "Riga Academy" in the Township of Riga in Monroe County, NY. Built in 18ll as a stage coach tavern called Thompsons' Tavern, it was later a private school. It is on the list of historic places in the United States. As a resident of Riga for 28 years, she was Riga Town Historian and Co-Chairman of the Riga Sesqui-Centennial; secretary and member of the Riga Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals for 14 years; and a Trustee of the Riga Free Library.For 20 years she and her husband owned and operated "The Chestnut Hill Studio, Lt.," a mail order business with world-wide customers, making fine miniature reproductions of antique furniture, accessories and historic rooms.After living in Taylors, SC for 18 years, she and her husband moved to Tryon Estates, a retirement community in Western North Carolina, where she was Secretary and member of the Tryon Estates Residents Board, five years on the Tryon Estates Landscaping Committee, designing several landscaped areas of The Estates. She also designed the Tryon Estates Memorial Alcove.She leaves one brother, Robert S. Wiley of Webster, NY; four nephews, a niece, 7 grandnieces and nephews and 3 great grand nephews. There will be no memorial service.Burial will be in Rochester, NYMemorial contributions can be made to the Tryon Estates Memorial Fund, 615 Laurel Lake Drive, Columbus, NC 28722.
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