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Miriam Rawley, singer with group called Serenaders

Miriam E. McBride Rawley, 90, of Tacony, a mother and singer, died Friday, Nov. 14, of Alzheimer's disease at the Philadelphia Protestant Home in Lawncrest.

Miriam E. McGill McBride Rawley, 90, of Tacony, a mother and singer, died Friday, Nov. 14, of Alzheimer's disease at the Philadelphia Protestant Home in Lawncrest.

Born in 1924 in Philadelphia, Mrs. Rawley lost her mother early. She and her four siblings grew up with their father, Francis McGill, and stepmother, Maude Whelan, on a horse farm in Hilltown, Bucks County.

After the family moved back to the city, Mrs. Rawley became a member of the first graduating class of St. Hubert High School in 1942.

She took a secretarial job at the Customs House in Philadelphia before marrying Cletus McBride Jr. in 1947. The two had met in the eighth grade at a St. Timothy Parish dance.

When her husband returned from Army service in World War II, he played alto saxophone with some musicians he had known from the North Catholic High School band. They called themselves the Serenaders; Mrs. Rawley was the vocalist.

"She was out front with the gowns. It was great. She looked gorgeous," said son Cletus McBride III.

She continued to sing with the Serenaders until her husband's death in 1983. Mrs. McBride then married Jim Fisher, who died in 1996. After several years, she married Jack Rawley. He died in 2009.

Though she had outlived three husbands, she remained undaunted. "I remember her saying, 'Keep moving; you won't get anywhere in life if you don't,' " her son said.

Mrs. Rawley sang and played harmonica with a seniors' group at St. Katherine of Siena Parish in the Northeast, at parties, and at the Philadelphia Protestant Home until her death.

Surviving, besides her son, are sons Paul and Dennis; daughters Bernadette, Kathleen McKeown, Constance, and Denise; 15 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Services were held Friday, Nov. 21.

Donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 399 Market St., Suite 102, Philadelphia 19106, or the Philadelphia Protestant Home, 6500 Tabor Ave., Philadelphia 19111.

610-313-8102