Margaret Riviere

Mrs. Riviere was born in Upson County, a daughter of the late J. B. Hardy and Lucile Blackburn Hardy. She obtained her private pilot's license in Griffin in the early 1940s. In 1942 the U. S. Army Air Force formed the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs. Mrs. Riviere applied and was accepted into the program, which trained and utilized women to fly non-combat missions in the United States during World War II. In 2009 Mrs. Riviere received a Congressional Gold Medal for her service. Mrs. Riviere had lived in Barnesville since 1947 and was a homemaker. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Barnesville. Mrs. Riviere is survived by a niece, Virginia Massing of Rome; two nephews, Tom Hardy Massing of Rockton, IL and Tony Douglas Massing of Cartersville; and a sister-in-law, Christine Riviere Goodenough of Greenwood, SC.