Obituary of Emilie R Bregy

Emilie Rivinus Brégy (August 16, 1920 – December 31, 2024)

Emilie (Kayo) was born to Marion and Edward Rivinus and she spent her childhood in Chestnut Hill, PA. She attended Ravenhill Academy, Springside School, boarding school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Noroton CT and finished her senior year abroad at La Petite Ecole in Florence, Italy. The year abroad sparked a lifelong appreciation for art and travel. Emilie married attorney Philip A. Bregy in 1941 and they raised four daughters on a beautiful property called Firefly Farm in Plymouth Meeting. 

Emilie studied art at the Tyler School of Fine Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and completed the Famous Artists course in Westport CT. Her talent was further enriched during a twenty-five-year career as a volunteer guide at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work as an artist featured several hundred portraits of distinguished subjects, dramatic watercolors of the Maine coastline, and large oil-based abstracts. Her formal portraits of Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme Court judges included Judge Genevieve Blatt, Chief Justice James S. Bowman, and Judge Roy Wilkinson, Jr. She also painted portraits of Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer, Milton Eisenhower (brother of former President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower,) and several Board Chairmen which are currently on permanent display in Harrisburg, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia. Informal family portraits of men, women, and children with their pets are displayed in homes throughout the Philadelphia area.

Emilie broadened her artistic perspective through extensive travel and her watercolors document trips throughout the United States and the Caribbean as well as countries such as India, Thailand, Japan, Bhutan, Yemen, Italy, Spain, and Mexico. She frequently exhibited her paintings in art shows in Pennsylvania and Maine and often provided opportunities for other artists to visit her studio for private tours at which time she discussed technique and personal interpretations.  

In addition to her art career, Emilie’s days were filled with community volunteerism and close connections with friends and family. She was well-informed about current events and felt a strong sense of social responsibility by giving back to those less fortunate. Emilie had been a member of the Four Counties Garden Club and Garden Club of America for over 70 years, from 1952 to 2024 and, in addition to serving as a Guide and Treasurer of the Graduate Guides, she served on the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Women’s Committee for 63 years. She was a life-long supporter of the Morris Arboretum and the Friends of the Wissahickon in Chestnut Hill and served as President and Emeritus Board Member of the Committee of 1926 at Historic Strawberry Mansion in Fairmount Park.

Emilie excelled in tennis and golf and she maintained memberships at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Sunnybrook Golf Club, and the Causeway Club in Southwest Harbor Maine. She grew up riding, sailing, fishing and canoeing. She and her husband Phil took many vacations with their daughters that included biking, hiking, climbing, swimming, sailing and canoeing.  Emilie and Phil also enjoyed biking trips in France, Ireland and Holland, always with a picnic of cheese, grapes, French bread and wine. Emilie was an avid reader and frequently wrote poetry and short stories and recited songs and poems that she learned in her childhood.

Emilie taught us what it means to be a loving mother, proud grandmother and great grandmother, and she exhibited steadfast loyalty to friends and family. She taught us how to see the goodness in all people and to be grateful for the treasures that life brings. She was admired for her positive spirit, humility, integrity, wonderful sense of humor, and compassion for others. Although Emilie was a lifelong practicing Catholic, she exhibited genuine interest in all cultures and religions and remained respectful of others with different views and backgrounds. 

She is survived by her brother (Willis M. Rivinus) four daughters, (Phyllis Flail, Carol Reznikoff, Joan Bregy and Anne Saltman,) 12 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial will be held at 10:00AM on Saturday, April 12 at St Philip Neri Church in Lafayette Hill followed by a reception at Cathedral Village at 1:00. 

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Emilie’s memory can be made to the Morris Arboretum or the Historic Strawberry Mansion.