Rhode Island’s Most Accomplished Family Isn’t Who You Think It Is
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Rhode Island’s most accomplished family is not the Chafees, nor the Gilbanes.
The Wiley family from Warwick has arguably the most impressive track record of any local lineage in modern history.
The Chafees prominence has been politics; the Gilbanes, construction. The Wileys — their prominence ranges from law, civil rights, media, athletics, community service, science, and much more.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThis past week Alton Wiley — Rhode Island’s first black judge, died at the age of 91. It was a reminder of the impact that the family has made on Rhode Island and nationally.
His brother was George Wiley, a prominent national community organizer for which the Wiley Center in Pawtucket is named. He died in 1973; now his daughter, Maya, is a top contender for New York City Mayor.
There were four other Wiley children, who grew up under parents who told them that they could be anything they wanted to be — but that they had to work “twice as hard" to get ahead.
“Every one of my siblings in their own right has made a mark, due to our upbringing and guidance of our parents,” said Bev Wiley, now the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Warwick under Mayor Frank Picozzi.
The youngest Wiley, Bev Wiley had a storied athletics career, becoming the Commissioner of USA Softball Rhode Island in 1992 in a sport that had been administered by predominantly men — and is also currently on the national body’s board of directors overseeing the region from Maine to Pennsylvania, and is one of the selection committee members for United States national team.
Growing up in the Norwood section of Warwick as one of the city’s handful of black families at the time, Wiley remembers her mother instilling excellence in her children.
“Anytime we left the house, she said, ‘Remember — you are a Wiley,'" said Wiley.
Parental Influence
Wiley, speaking with GoLocal, said her parents shaped her and her siblings’ world outlook.
“My mom was a homemaker, and was always involved in the community doing volunteer work — she would often be involved in two to three PTAs at a time,” said Wiley. “My father was a postal clerk for the post office for thirty years, starting in downtown Providence and then moving to the Elmwood location.”
Wiley said her father’s work an editor for the Boston Chronicle, and then the Providence Chronicle — newspapers that she said served an unmet need in the Black community — served to impact change.
“My older sister Shirley wanted to go to Camp Hoffman,” said Wiley, of the Girl Scouts camp in Rhode Island. “The family story is that they brought her down, and were turned away. They were told, ‘We don’t take Negro girls here.'"
Wiley said her family turned around, and her father fired up an editorial for the Chronicle, calling out the Girl Scouts for failing their mission for being a friend to “all girls.”
“After it was published, the Girl Scouts called up my father, and told him my sister could come to the camp,” said Wiley. “My father said, not until you change your policy so that all Black girls could go. And so they did.”
Wiley’s father helped found the Urban League in Rhode Island, and was a staunch advocate for fair housing laws. Shirley passed away six years ago, after working as an English school teacher in New York.
Family of Achievers
The oldest sister — Lucille — just celebrated her 95th birthday.
“Lucille was very bright. She wanted to be a nurse. But no nursing schools at the time would take her,” said Wiley. “They weren’t going to take Negro girls.”
So Lucille went to the Rhode Island College of Pharmacy — now part of the University of Rhode Island — and graduated from the four year program in three years.
“When she got out, there were no drugstores who would take her as an intern, so she worked in the state medical lab, becoming the state's lead bacteriologist,” said Wiley, who said Lucille went on to work in same position at Westerly Hospital, before retiring. Lucille now lives in Chicago with one of her daughters.
Al was the third child; the first Wiley son, and as Bev Wiley points out, "much older."
“He always referred to me as his baby sister,” said Wiley, who said when he passed, it was her memory of Al teaching her how to hit a baseball that was “just as strong as the day he taught me.”
Wiley spoke his athletics prowess, being “bored” of going to Al's track meets and "watching him win all the time" — but that he always spoiled her "and would bring me back packs of gum."
Alton Wiley is the URI Hall of Fame for track and field.
George was the fourth Wiley child, who is well known for his leadership roles in community activism, serving as an associate director for the Congress of Racial Equality, advocating for rights for welfare mothers in particular, before his death in a drowning accident in 1973.
What most people don’t know, however, is that George gave up a promising academic career — earning his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Cornell University, and on a tenure track at Syracuse University, before he left it for public service.
“We would call him the absent-minded professor, he could be so clumsy,” said Wiley. “He liked to refer to himself as the ‘otherwise-minded professor.'”
Dr. Wiley was the national coordinator for the Movement for Economic Justice. Now, his daughter Maya is a top contender for New York City Mayor.
As the New York Times reported this week, Wiley is being backed by New York City's largest union -- "lifting her bid for Mayor."
"The endorsement by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union is a major win for Ms. Wiley," reported the NYT.
The fifth Wiley, Ed, went to URI — and then on to become a top public relations executive at Exxon Mobil. He now is retired and lives in Maryland.
Then and Now
“We always had good clothes, we always had food on the table,” said Bev Wiley. “But I always faced discrimination.”
Wiley said growing up in Warwick’s public schools, she always had friends — but was never invited to sleepovers or parties.
“I had one friend who had a party and she invited me, and I was shocked,” said Wiley, who said she is still close friends with that classmate to this day — whose children call her “Aunty.”
After Al Wiley’s passing, friend and former State Representative Ray Rickman spoke to how Wiley’s appointment in Rhode Island, while ground breaking, lagged the rest of the nation.
“Rhode Island is always 20 to 40 years behind everyone else — Thurgood Marshall was on the bench before we had a black judge,” said Rickman. “People think this is normal, but Rhode Island is retrofitted.”
This past year, Rhode Island had its first minority judge ever named to the Supreme Court.
Rickman told GoLocal that Wiley first approached him to help advocate for his judgeship, when Rickman was new to Rhode Island and just appointed to head the Providence Human Rights Commission -- and Rickman said he called then-Governor John Garrahy at Wiley’s request, despite being new to the state.
Garrahy not only took the phone call; he took action and put Wiley on the bench.
“Wiley was above all a gentleman,” said Rickman.
Rickman said he has known Bev "forever," and that the Wiley family has all had a commitment to service.
“If you take a hundred, or a thousand civil rights leaders, they all could have made three to four times as much money in the private sector,” said Rickman, who said he himself was offered top posts at Ford Motors he turned down to work in public service. “They gave up a lot for the community.”
Wiley, now in her role with the City of Warwick, was advocating Monday night before the City Council for more funding for recreational facilities in the city.
“I love working for this Mayor,” she said. “He came after me to take the position.”
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