Late priest’s extensive Civil War memorabilia is being auctioned off

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WEST BOYLSTON – For much of his life, the late Father Walter J. Riley, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, was passionate about visiting Civil War battlefields and collecting Civil War memorabilia.

After he was ordained a Catholic priest in 2006, his passion turned to serving the Lord and the Civil War became more of a hobby, but an avid one.
“The passion switched when he became a priest,” his brother Rich Riley said, “but the Civil War still played a huge role.”

Father Riley often visited Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields and compiled a vast collection of Civil War memorabilia. He kept most of it at his brother’s West Boylston home.
Father Riley passed away at age 63 on Feb. 9, 2024, after a brief illness. Mr. Riley, executor of his late brother’s estate, said the Riley family has decided to auction his Civil War collection.

“I don’t want the Civil War memorabilia sitting in my house when it can benefit people,” Mr. Riley said. “Now his memorabilia will be purchased by people who have an interest in it.

“His hope I’m sure would be,” said Steve Gannon, who accompanied Father Riley on many of his Civil War travels, “that it would kindle in them what it did for him and myself. Just the sheer excitement and joy of traveling. There’s something about walking a battlefield, whether it’s the monuments or the cannons, or just knowing you’re where it took place. There’s no feeling in the world like it in my opinion.”

Mr. Riley hired Central Mass. Auctions to conduct an online auction that runs  from Feb. 6 through March 2. In all, 1,264 lots of one or more items are up for auction. To view the items or to make a bid visit: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/405570_civil-war-memorabilia-estate-auction/.

The items include photos, letters, documents, banners, medals, ribbons and books. Among the items with the highest suggested bids of $1,000-$5,000 are an 1861 deputy postmaster appointment document signed by Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, and an 1864 Civil War camp flag from the first New York Veteran Cavalry. Suggested bids for many other items range $100-$200. The collection has several photos of Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson and other Civil War generals.

Father Riley purchased most of his items at Civil War artifact shows and historical shops and from other collectors. He sold and bought items. He earned most of the money he spent on memorabilia by working for UPS for 22 years before becoming a priest.

His first position in the Diocese of Worcester was as associate pastor at Christ the King Parish in Worcester. Then he served as pastor of Immaculate Conception, Worcester, then St. Luke the Evangelist, Westborough, and finally of St. Anne Parish, Shrewsbury.

Masses on the second anniversary of his death were held on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 at St. Anne.
The Knights of Columbus Adelphi Council 4181 in Shrewsbury renamed its annual golf tournament last Sept. 29 at Heritage Country Club in Charlton the “Father Walter J. Riley Golf Outing” and raised $2,500 for the Visitation House. The Knights presented the check to Visitation House on Christmas in order for the gift to be matched by an anonymous donor. A Mass will be held at the Visitation House chapel at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in honor of Father Riley. Dinner will follow. Visitation House is a home at 119 Endicott St. for women with unplanned pregnancies and their children.

“This is really very, very nice,” Mr. Riley said. “It fits in nicely with the family wanting to honor him for the second anniversary.”

Father Riley was a Visitation House board member and, a few months after he died, Bishop McManus presented the Ruth V.K. Pakaluk Legacy Award posthumously to him at a Visitation House fundraiser. His sisters accepted the award, which is named for the late pro-lifer who is the inspiration for Visitation House.

Father Adam Reid, who attended the seminary with Father Riley and who is the current pastor at St. Anne, will celebrate the Mass at the Visitation House.

Father Enoch Kyeremateng, who lived with Father Riley at Immaculate Conception, St. Luke’s and St. Anne’s before becoming administrator at St. Joan of Arc Parish, will concelebrate.

Seating is limited at the chapel. If someone wishes to attend, contact Brad Sjosten, a member of the K of C in Shrewsbury and a St. Anne parishioner, at 508-769-7402. Mr. Sjosten, 73, of Spencer knew Father Riley well.

“He was the closest thing to a saint that I knew,” Mr. Sjosten said.

During a reception that Immaculate Conception held for Father Riley when was reassigned to St. Luke’s, some parishioners told him they would follow him to St. Luke. Mr. Sjosten remembers Father Riley responded by saying, “You don’t come for me, you come for Jesus.”

Then he asked Mr. Sjosten and his wife, Maureen, to follow him. They followed him to St. Anne as well.

Mr. Riley said he isn’t sure how much the auction will raise, but a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Visitation House.

Mr. Riley said the auctioneers hauled away his brother’s memorabilia, which included 37 bins of books and 97 three-ring binders of photos, medals, letters and ribbons.

Mr. Riley still has plenty of Civil War and religious books and photos and he plans to auction them off as well or give them away at some point.

Father Riley was the ninth of 16 siblings and Mr. Riley, 74, is the first. Father Riley usually slept at his brother’s home on Thursdays, his day off.

At his home, Mr. Riley has what he calls his “Walter Wall,” a wall and table covered with photos, plaques and baseball jerseys worn by his late brother. Father Riley played for St. Peter-Marian High School’s Division 1 state championship baseball team in 1977. There’s even a baseball card of former Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman, who was one of his teammates on the state title team.

Father Riley’s diplomas from SPM and Assumption University are on display. So are scrapbooks, one of which contains report cards dating back to kindergarten.

“It’s a memorial to him,” Mr. Riley said. “This was his home away from the rectory.”

Father Riley often traveled to Civil War battlefields by himself, but he led a handful of pilgrimages to Rome, Israel and Poland.

Mr. Gannon, 69, of Worcester, considered Father Riley to be his best friend. Since 1988 the two traveled to such Civil War battlefields as Gettysburg, Antietam, Cedar Creek, New Market, Manassas. and Fredericksburg. Mr. Gannon said that many of the shop owners and booksellers in Gettysburg knew Father Riley by name.

After Father Riley passed away, Mr. Gannon purchased a commemorative sidewalk brick in his name in Lincoln Square in Gettysburg. That was fitting because Father Riley loved Gettysburg and he grew up off Lincoln Street in Worcester, up the street from Lincoln Square.

“A small way to honor him, but more importantly, in the last 10 years, Gettysburg was his home port,” Mr. Gannon said. “I just wanted him to be there for the rest of forever.”

The last time Mr. Gannon spoke to Father Riley was when Father Riley called him from Gettysburg a week or two before he passed away.

In the 1990s, Mr. Riley went to Manassas in Virginia with his brother. Mr. Riley remembers his brother having a long, detailed conversation with a park ranger about Manassas. Father Riley knew as much as the ranger did.

Father Riley majored in history at Assumption and then developed his passion for the Civil War. Later, that passion turned to serving God.

“He loved being a priest,” Mr. Riley said. “He was dedicated to the priesthood. It was his life.”