Katherine Patricia“Katie” (or "Pat) Riley Offerman-Gossman was born on May 2, 1932 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the only daughter of John Norman Riley, Sr. and Margaret Ellen Hearley Riley. She had three brothers: Tom, Norm, and Jim. She was a graduate of the College of Mount Saint Joseph in Hamilton County, Ohio. She married her first husband, John Garrett Offerman, in 1954 at Saint Christopher Roman Catholic Church in Rocky River, Cuyahoga County, and they had six children: John N. Offerman, William Offerman, Therese Offerman, Garret G. Offerman, Mary Offerman Moore, and Ted Offerman.

In fact there are two fascinating family stories about how two college classmates, Pat (or "Katie") and Nancy, became sisters-in-law through the machinations of Nancy’s brothers, Norm and Tom.

Father John Norman “Norm” Riley, Jr., at age 19 in the summer of 1950, went on a transatlantic voyage for The Holy Year Pilgrimage. He traveled to New York to disembark on the S.S. Roma. Norm coincidentally met a man when he was checking into his hotel in New York, on June 16, 1950, named John Garrett Offerman who was also going on the same pilgrimage. They spent the next six weeks together on their trip and kept in touch. Norm would eventually introduce John to his younger sister, Patricia Katherine “Pat” (or "Katie") Riley Offerman-Gossman, and they started a long distance relationship leading to their marriage in Rocky River, Cuyahoga County in 1954.

After graduating from St. Augustine High School in 1950, Pat attended The College of Mount Saint Joseph in Cincinnati (“The Mount”), the same school her mother had attended. While at The Mount Pat met a classmate from the nearby area, Anne Roger “Nancy” Donnelly Riley, and became friendly. They arranged a trip together with other girls during their junior year to attend the Xavier vs. John Carroll football game in Cleveland on November 8, 1952. They would take the train to Cleveland and stay with Pat’s family for the weekend. Another of Pat’s brothers, Thomas Norman “Tom” Riley, picked the girls up at the train station, evidently liked what he saw, invited himself to the football game, and started a romance with Nancy Donnelly. They were married on September 4, 1954 in Cincinnati.

Katie (also known as “Pat”) is buried in Resthaven Memory Gardens In Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado. She separated from her first husband in 1975 and remarried after his death. Her second husband was John J. “Jack” Gossman. Jack died within a few years of their wedding. Pat also went to work, following her separation from her first husband, at Colorado State University as an accountant. There she went by her middle name Katherine and was known as “Katie”—hence the name on her headstone.

Katie died of pancreatic cancer on December 26, 2006. Her brother and longtime travel companion, Father Norm Riley, also died of pancreatic cancer a month later.

Thanks so much to all the Riley family researchers for much of this information. Any errors, however, are mine alone. Please go to the "edit" link on this site with any corrections or additions. If a closer relative than I would like to manage this burial site, please let me know.