Marie Teresa Rios

Marie Teresa Ríos, also Marie Teresa Ríos Versace, (pen name "Tere Ríos") (November 9, 1917-October 17, 1999) was the American author of a book which was the basis for the 1960s television sitcom, "The Flying Nun". Ríos was the mother of Humbert Roque Versace, the first U.S. Army Prisoner of war in Southeast Asia awarded the Medal of Honor.

Early years

Ríos' parents immigrated from Puerto Rico in the early part of the 20th century and settled in the New York City borough of Brooklyn where Maria Teresa Ríos was born. She grew up in Puerto Rico and eventually returned to New York. Ríos Versace was a devout Catholic who became interested in writing at a young age.

In the 1930s, she met and married Humbert Joseph Versace, a 1933 graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point). Together they had five children, Humbert Roque, twins Stephen and Richard Versace (former coach of the Indiana Pacers), Michael and Trilby. As an Army wife, she traveled to different places around the world, including Hawaii, where her first child, Humbert Roque was born.

Career as a writer

During World War II, Ríos (now Ríos Versace) drove Army trucks and buses. She also served as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. Ríos Versace wrote and edited for various newspapers around the world, including places such as Guam, Germany,Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and publications such the Armed Forces "Star & Stripes" and "Gannett".

She also taught creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and was on the staff of the Rhinelander Writers Conference. In 1958, she was named "Wisconsin Writer of the Year". In 1963, Ríos Versace published her first book "An Angel Grows Up" (1957) using the pen name "Tere Ríos". She soon followed that with another book, "Brother Angel" (1963).

The Fifteenth Pelican and Humbert Roque Versace

Her eldest son, Humbert Roque Versace, followed his father's footsteps and graduated from West Point. He was sent to the Republic of Vietnam as a military advisor with the rank of Captain. During his second tour in Vietnam he was captured, along with two other Americans, by the Viet Cong. Captain Versace was executed by his captors on September 26, 1965, an event which devastated her.

Unaware of her son's death, she published her third book "The Fifteen Pelican" in 1966 and the book's dedication read as follow: "FOR THE ROCK (Her son's nickname) and the children and sugar people of NamCan". The TV series "The Flying Nun", starring Sally Field, was based on this book. The sitcom was produced by ABC from 1967 until 1970.

Upon learning of their son's fate, Ríos Versace and her husband tried to find out what they could about the circumstances surrounding his death. She went to Paris in the late 1960s, trying unsuccessfully to see the North Vietnamese delegation as it arrived for peace talks. Ríos Versace expressed her frustration and anguish in poems.

Final years

Ríos Versace was presented with a Special Forces patch and unit membership certificate. In 1970, a movement to award her son with the Medal of Honor failed and instead Ríos Versace and her husband were presented with their son's Silver Star. Her husband Colonel Humbert Joseph Versace died on June 12, 1972.

Ríos Versace returned to Puerto Rico in 1990, retiring in the town of Fajardo. In 1999, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and she left the island to return to the mainland. She was hospitalized in Sarasota, Florida. Marie Teresa Ríos Versace died on October 17, 1999 and her funeral was held at the Ft. Myer Old Post Chapel. Representatives of the Special Operations Command from Fort Bragg were present. Her ashes were buried with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery on November 12, 1999.

Postscript

On July 8, 2002, President George W. Bush presented Marie Teresa Ríos Versace's surviving children with the Medal of Honor which was posthumously awarded to Captain Humbert Roque Versace.

Bibliography

*cite book|title=Brother Angel
author=Tere Ríos
publisher=Academy Guild Press
year=1963
id= ASIN B0007E0JEG

*cite book|title=An Angel Grows Up
author=Tere Ríos

*cite book|title=The Fifteen Pelican
author=Tere Ríos
publisher=Avon Camelot
year=1968
id= ASIN B000EAASMQ

ee also

*List of notable Puerto Ricans

External links

* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mtrversace.htm Marie Teresa Ríos Versace]