A Royal Family Reunion Descendants Of Spokane Inventor Royal Riblet Come Together At Forebear’s Landmark Home

Three years ago, Donna Getz’s family got bigger. Not just by one or two members, but at least two dozen.

After researching her family’s history, she and a cousin discovered their long-lost family members. They also found out they were the great-grandchildren of Royal Riblet, a Spokane inventor and builder of the centerpiece of Spokane’s Arbor Crest Winery.

“It was so overwhelming,” said Getz, who traveled from Brookings, Ore., to attend the Riblet family reunion at the winery. “None of us knew of Royal Riblet’s existence until two years ago. This was all so mindboggling to us.”

On Saturday, she and about 20 others came from as far away as California to tour the house built by their relative in 1924. They also came to see cousins they had never heard of until recently.

For several hours, they sipped wine and wandered around the three-story, Florentine-style home built by the Spokane legend who used the house as his home and workshop.

Royal Riblet, born in 1871 in Osage, Iowa, moved to the area in 1904. He was considered a mechanical wizard for his numerous inventions, including the ski tramway and a square-wheeled tractor that prevented erosion.

“Royal Riblet was a very imaginative man,” said Candace Frasher, the historian at Arbor Crest Winery and the area expert on Royal Riblet. “He was an early environmentalist as well.”

Riblet had seven wives. His first wife, Mary Gertrude Knapp, died at 28 after eight years of marriage. He married and divorced five times until he met and married Mildred Geiler in 1928, a woman he affectionately called “Girlie.”

Audrey Perier of Spokane told family members about visiting her Grandpa Riblet. The daughter of Royal Riblet’s only son, Perier said they weren’t close, since Royal was a very private person.

She visited him only twice as a child, recalled the 68-year-old. The first time, she stayed in the car. The second time, she was allowed to wander the grounds. She swam in the pool and played with the giant grass checkerboard that is part of the mansion’s elaborate grounds.

She last heard from her grandfather 37 years ago. He called her up and invited her family to tea. The next day, he canceled the engagement because of bad weather.

“This is an unusual family,” said Perier.

When Royal Riblet died at 88 of pneumonia in 1960, few family members knew, she said. She wouldn’t have realized that her grandfather was dead if she hadn’t seen the obituary in the newspaper.

She also didn’t know about Riblet’s other relatives until 1995. “I’m glad we’re all together, but it’s too bad that we had to wait until we’re old.”

Frasher, who first heard from Getz’s family two years ago, also was amazed to learn about Riblet’s long-lost relatives.

“I was very surprised and touched,” she said. “It’s touching when someone finds their roots.”

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