Reilly, Margaret Nora “Peggy” November 19, 1933 - October 25, 2018

Margaret “Peggy” Nora Reilly, a resident of Bronxville, NY and one of the first female supervisors in Westchester County Department of Social Services, passed away on October 25th. She was 84-years-old.

Reilly was born and raised in Yonkers, the second of three daughters to James and Ellen Clifford.

As a child she was nicknamed Peggy. A self-declared tom-boy and a daddy’s girl, she was fearless from a young age. As an adult she recalled her days of playing outlaws and sheriffs with the neighborhood boys on Riverdale Avenue. Later in her life she would describe her childhood years with vivid fondness, transforming the busy streets of Yonkers into a kid’s perfect playground.

In 1951, Reilly graduated from Commerce High School, but her studies were interrupted when her father was diagnosed with emphysema. She decided to abandon her plans for college and instead went to work to help support her family during that challenging time.

She went on to marry Francis “Frank” Reilly in 1958. Together they had a set of identical twin boys, Peter and Paul, a set of fraternal twins, a boy, Sean, and a girl, Frances, and a daughter, Kathleen.

While her husband came to the United States with aspirations to become an opera singer, Reilly talked of becoming a judge or the sheriff. She worked in the Westchester County Office of Child Support Enforcement for the Department of Social Services. There she advocated for child support for children of divorce. There she became one of the first women to become a supervisors.

Reilly dedicated her life to advocating for families and mothers, she continued her work after her retirement with the National Coalition for Family Justice (NCFJ). There she helped women of divorce work to get child support from partners who tried to evade their financial responsibility to their families.

Reilly raised and financially supported her children singlehandedly, which meant having multiple jobs at once, something she proudly boasted later in life. Her favorite occupation was being a school crossing guard, keeping children safe on their way to school. Her youngest daughter, Kathleen, would frequently have to go with her as she wasn’t yet old enough to attend school herself.

Reilly often recalled the time when Kathleen was playing around in her car and accidentally sent the vehicle – with herself in it – flying down a hill. With superhero strength, fueled by the determination that can only be explained as a mother trying to save her child, she ran down after the car and managed to slip inside before it crashed. She always said she would be able to lift buildings with the love she had for her babies – that love saved Kathleen, and the car that day.

That was just one of many instances where Peggy Reilly saved the world.

In the summer of 1996 her world was turned on its head, literally. Reilly fell down a flight of stairs in Ireland while on vacation and suffered internal bleeding in her brain. She was rushed to a Dublin hospital and had a dime-sized piece of her brain removed. Reilly was in a coma, and remained in the hospital for six weeks. For each of those weeks, one of her five children came over from America, took turns to be there with her. They followed their mother’s rules, “watch your step, mind your P+Q’s, take care of each other.”

However traumatic, that injury did not hold Peggy Reilly back by any means. She continued to go to Curves gym, volunteer her time with the Yonkers Historical Society and the NCFJ. She continued to defy expectations when she decided to prove to the world that it’s never too late to go back to school.

In 2011 she received not one but two diplomas. She walked across the stage as part of the graduating class of 2011, receiving her bachelor’s degree at SUNY Empire State College and her masters degree, which she completed in 1987, from Pace University. The ceremony at Lincoln Center brought an end to the decades worth of work and sacrifice.

Although many passersby that day assumed this family was celebrating a adult or grandchild, Reilly walked the streets of New York City proudly in her cap and gown. On the steps of Lincoln Center, she threw her arms up in celebration and exaltation. She did it. She did it for herself, for the first time, on her own terms.

In addition to her degrees, Reilly’s other accolades include being a decorated go-fish player and well-versed on the catalog of crooners from the 30’s and 40’s. She loved a cup of Barry’s tea with a splash of milk, and it went even better with a scone – or Irish Soda Bread if it was in season. She celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with as much pride as the Fourth of July, and she never missed a Birthday, even if it meant she had to sing to you over the phone.

“I’ll be there with bells on,” she always said in her sing-songy voice to her grandchildren. Reilly never missed a recital, a hockey game or impromptu musical performance. She opened her home to violin practice and math tutoring. To her grandkids she was the gold standard of what it meant to be a mother, advocate and protector – all that is good in this world.

In an age of superheroes, those who knew her never had to turn to comic books to recognize that Wonder Woman lived among them. Her power was to love unconditionally with all of her heart and soul. She dedicated every day of her life to serving others, an example that those who knew her could only aspire to emulate.

She is survived by four of her children and their spouses, Peter Reilly and Maryanne Reilly of Lake Mary, Florida, Regina Maimoni Reilly of Yonkers, David Smith and Frances Reilly Smith of Yonkers, Sean Reilly and Valerie Reilly of Yorktown and Michael Hymes and Kathleen Reilly Hymes of Manhattan. She is also remembered by her eight grandchildren, Katherine, Meghan, Clare, Emma, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Cameron and Caeley. Her sisters, Patricia Clifford Bilz and Eileen Clifford Price, survive her. In heaven she joins her husband Francis P. Reilly who passed away in 2000 and her late son Paul Reilly, who passed in May of 2016.