In Memoriam: Gertrude Riska

From Fred D. Knapp & Son Funeral Home.

Gertrude Riska died after a long illness at her home in Cos Cob on March 14, surrounded by loved ones. She was 96 years old.

Mrs. Riska was a lifelong resident of Cos Cob, church musician and piano teacher. She taught hundreds of piano students in her home on Orchard Street, teaching her last student just last year at the age of 95, and played the organ in churches until the age of 92. She was a natural born teacher, bringing out the best in her students and choir members.

Gertrude first began playing the piano for Sunday school classes at Diamond Hill Methodist Church at the age of 12. She became their regular organist, building a large adult choir and a children’s choir. She moved on to the First Methodist Church in Greenwich. Her longest tenure, and the work of which she was proudest, was at the Round Hill Community Church, where she was the Organist and Choir Director from 1962 to 1984. She built a large choir there, which continues to flourish to this day, and oversaw the installation of a pipe organ in the original church, and a new organ when the new church was built. On the occasion of her 20th anniversary as their organist, Round Hill Church presented her with a certificate that read, in part,
“She has given her time lovingly and patiently …… Her musical contribution to the spiritual life of the Church has been very great.”

After retiring from Round Hill she was called to serve at the Lutheran Church, the Greenwich Baptist Church, and finally St. Clement’s R.C. Church in Old Greenwich.

She was a self-taught musician who went on to inspire countless numbers of people with her music, spirit and zest for living.

Mrs. Riska was also well known for her memories of Greenwich. She wrote two oral histories for the Greenwich Library. One, “Chief of the Cos Cob Power Plant”, is the story of her father, Lewis Grant O’Donnell, who was the first chief engineer of the Cos Cob electric generating plant for the New Haven Railroad. The second, “A Walk Through Cos Cob” tells the story of the buildings in Cos Cob along the Post Road. Both were quite popular and made into printed books that are still available at the library. Gertrude had a passion for reading, especially of history, and was a frequent visitor to libraries. She had a prodigious memory, able to recall facts and details that would entertain her friends and family.

Gertrude used her natural gift of creativity and talent for sewing to help decorate her house and the houses of her daughter. In summer she would enjoy the tranquility and beauty of Nantucket Island while visiting family there.

She is survived by her daughter Bonnie Havery and son-in-law Robert Havery of Woodbury, CT and Nantucket.

There will be a service at the graveside at Long Ridge Cemetery in Stamford on Saturday at 11 a.m.