Ann Louise Riley-Ellis
September 15, 1949 - January 30, 2025
Ann Louise Ellis (Riley) passed away peacefully, surrounded by her children and loved ones, on January 30, 2025 at the age of 75.
Ann was a lifetime resident of Malden. She dedicated years of her life as a special education teacher at the Medford elementary public schools. She was loved by all her students and staff and developed many meaningful bonds that extended outside of the classroom.
In addition to education, Ann was passionate about art, history and animals. She adopted and fostered many cats, including those that were disabled, sick, or nearing end of life and was involved with The Kitty Connection in Medford. She always provided animals with special care, love, and patience. She often donated to organizations that help to save animals from abuse, endangerment, or provide them with safe and loving homes. On several occasions she symbolically “adopted” an animal as a gift to her grandchildren to help with global efforts to protect wild animals and their habitats.
Ann was a funny, loving, and true-to-self mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, and friend. She had a great appreciation for humor and believed laughter was the key for resilience throughout life. Some of her most fond memories were her summers spent at Hampton Beach. She enjoyed crashing with the waves, reading in her beach chair, and watching her grandchildren playing on the beach. Ann felt a special connection with music and was a beautiful piano player throughout her life.
Ann is the loving mother of Moira A. McKenna, Joseph P. Ellis and his wife Linda; Cherished grandmother of Kayla, Christopher, Shannon, Michael, and John (Jack) McKenna; Adored sister of Mary Murphy and husband Kevin, Norman Riley, and Eileen Riley. She is the beloved daughter of late Geraldine (Gerry) A. (Grogan) and William P. Riley, whom we know welcome her with loving arms.
She will be deeply missed by everyone who was blessed enough to know her.
Funeral services will take place at the A. J. Spadafora Funeral Home, 865 Main Street, Malden on Friday February 7th. visiting hours are from 9:30 - 11:30 am, followed by a Mass of Christian burial at St. Joseph’s Church, 770 Salem Street, Malden at 12:00pm, prior to the Committal Service at Forest Dale Cemetery. Funeral Repast is at Spinelli’s Function Facility in Peabody at 2pm. Family and friends are invited.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to an animal charity to continue Ann’s passion for helping and protecting animals. We kindly ask that you choose from one of the organizations below or donate to a local charity.
World Wild Life https://www.worldwildlife.org
World Animal Protection https://www.worldanimalprotection.org
or International Fund for Animal Welfare https://www.ifaw.org