Lorretta Margaret Riley Lambert
Loretta “Lorry” Margaret Riley Lambert died peacefully in White River Junction, VT on June 4, 2019. Lorry was born in Jackson, MI on May 4, 1931. A graduate of St. Mary’s High School, Jackson, MI, Lorry received an AB from St. Mary’s College, South Bend, IN, in 1953. While attending college in South Bend, Lorry met John “Jack” F. Lambert, from Darien, CT who was attending the University of Notre Dame across the street. They married in 1953. After Jack finished law school and a federal judicial clerkship, they settled in Greenwich, CT in 1957 and in later years, split their time between Greenwich and their second home in Conway, NH.
Lorry was a homemaker while she raised her six children. She was incredibly proud of her six and over achieved in her goal of them being close friends. When Lorry’s youngest headed off to first grade, Lorry started teaching 5th grade at the Greenwich Academy, a position she held for about twenty-five years. Her passion in education was literacy and even after retiring she continued this focus, tutoring underprivileged children in reading.
Lorry was who you called in a crisis. If you had a troubled teenager, you sent the kid to live with Lorry. If one of her children took a class that was too hard, she could create a study plan even if she had no idea what organic chemistry was all about. Just had a baby? Lorry moved in with you, took care of the baby, did all the laundry and left the freezer filled with dinners. She was an accomplished cook, threw fabulous dinner parties, and for years her St. Patrick’s Day Party was the spring event. She sewed clothes for herself and children, was a voracious reader, a skilled bridge player and walked the neighborhood with friends.
Lorry is survived by her six children: John (Kim) of Cumberland Foreside, ME, James or Jim (Lauren) of Larchmont, NY, Loretta or Peggy Allen (Todd) of Hartford, VT, Eileen of Ramsey, NY, Elizabeth or Liza Henshaw (Richard) of Waccabuc, NY, and Philip (Kirsten) of Ramsey, NJ and 16 grandchildren: Emily, Deirdre, and Julia Lambert; James and Alexa Lambert; Kate (Colin Wilke)and Lorretta (Jason Edes); Isabel and Phoebe Bejarano; Rick, Jack and Riley Henshaw; and Spencer, Jake, Riley and MacKenzie Lambert. Lorry was predeceased by her parents, Phillip Arthur Riley and Loretta Margaret O’Meara Riley, her brother, Martin Riley, and is survived by her brother, Phillip Riley of Jackson, MI. A Catholic mass with a celebration of Lorry’s life will be held at 11 a.m., June 12 at St. Michael’s Church, 469 North Street, Greenwich where Jack and Lorry were communicants. A reception at the Belle Haven Club, Greenwich is scheduled for immediately afterwards. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be given in Lorry’s name to Everybody Wins Vermont, a literacy mentoring program: https://everybodywinsvermont.org/