Washington Journal December 1981
VERA RISELING DIES SUDDENLY
Washington-Mrs. Vera Riseling, the long-time treasurer of the Rhineland Social Club and also longtime member of the Washingtonia Schuhplattler (treasurer for 12 years) died suddenly on Sunday, November 29, 1981, at the age of 63.
A Funeral Mass for Vera Riseling will be held this week at St. Bernadine Catholic Church in Suitland, MD.
For her many German-American friends, this news of the sudden death of Mrs. Riseling is unbelievable, since she was actively participating in the Heimatabend of the Washingtonia Schuhplattler (see photo) as recently as three weeks ago.
PHOTO CAPTION: Taken three weeks ago at the Heimatabend of the Washingtonia Schuhplattler, Mrs. Vera Riseling, who died suddenly on Sunday.
Vera Riseling came into this world as a so-called "Army Brat" at Fort McClellan, Alabama, where her Army Major father was stationed, went to Houston, Texas, and served many years in the US Marine Corps.
In 1946 she served as a sergeant with the Marines in Washington, DC, where she met and married her husband, Lawyer George Riseling, who was a sergeant in the US Army. The Riseling family had three sons, George F. Riseling, Jr., John Charles and Patrick J. Riseling.
Besides her long service for the Rhinelander Social Club, whose treasurer she was until her sudden death, Vera Riseling belonged to the Washingtonia Schuhplattler and was a member of the Concord Club and the Women's Club of Saint Bernadine Catholic Church.
She was of Norwegian descent and leaves being three brothers and one sister in Texas named Charles Ottosen, Bedeford and Bradley Ottosen, also Mrs. Bobbie Ottosen Bennett, her sister.
Vera Riseling had her Master's Degree in Accounting and was for many years active in the German-American Club. She will be greatly missed by her husband and her numerous friends in German-American circles. In the past year she had major operations in March and April and spent a long time in the hospital, but she was able to go with the Schuhplattern to Ohmenhausen in Baden-Wertemburg in June 1981 to the celebration held there.
Before that she had willed that, in the event of her death, her remains would be sent to the Georgetown University Hospital Center for medical research.
The Washington Journal has lost in the death of Vera Riseling a longtime faithful reader and condoles her husband, George Riseling, as well as her three sons and other relatives who mourn her death