Newport’s “Viking Queen,” Ann Marie (Egan) Oakley, a pioneering local businesswoman, international traveler and tireless promoter of her beloved City-by-the-Sea, died Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Newport. She was the wife of the late George “Red” Oakley, to whom she was married for 49 years.
Mrs. Oakley was president of Viking Tours of Newport, a local, family-run business her husband founded in 1962, the first to offer narrated bus tours of the city as well as boat tours of Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay. Viking’s fleet of tour, fishing and excursion boats grew to include its flagship, the “Viking Queen,” a double-decker the Oakley’s launched in 1977 to provide tours and to carry spectators to the America’s Cup races and other maritime events.
Ann Marie was a woman of deep faith, unlimited interests and boundless curiosity. Her gregarious nature and genuine interest in the lives and well-being of others appealed to multiple generations. Annie Oakley, as she was known within the tourism industry, could carry on a conversation with anyone. And she did. Often.
She took to heart the words of St. Augustine: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” Mr. and Mrs. Oakley visited each of the country’s 50 states and traveled together to six of the world’s seven continents. They explored Easter Island, visited the former Soviet Union and toured many of the cathedrals and museums located throughout Europe.
After Red passed in 2000, Ann Marie and her daughter, Karen Oakley, became traveling companions. They admired the Egyptian pyramids, walked along the Great Wall of China and went on safari in Kenya. They especially enjoyed the antics of penguins during a cruise to Antarctica, the only continent Annie had yet to visit.
Mrs. Oakley was a generous woman who supported many religious, civic and professional agencies and organizations. She was a longtime parishioner of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she was a member of the Rosary Altar Sodality and a former member of the parish council. She belonged to the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and its knitting group, as well as the Museum of Newport Irish History and the Red Hat Society. Under her direction, Viking Tours sponsored a young driver and a car, often two, in every Soap Box Derby held by the local Lions Club.
She and Red represented the local tourism and hospitality industry at many national and international conventions. They belonged to the Newport County Chamber of Commerce and were involved with the former Newport County Convention & Visitors Bureau, now known as Discover Newport. They were prominently featured in “Born Newporters: Documentary Portraits,” an exhibit at the Newport Art Museum that photojournalist Kate Whitney Lucey also published as a book.
Annie was an avid reader of newspapers and books of every genre. A lifelong learner, she was a member of Salve Regina University’s Circle of Scholars and attended seminars ranging from opera to ornithology. She enjoyed lectures and the theater, where she was known to take a short catnap after the houselights went down.
Above all she loved people – especially her grandsons and great-grandchildren — and learning their history, culture and traditions. She celebrated diversity, believed in equity and practiced inclusivity. She enjoyed parties and family gatherings and hosted many, ranging from large Easter buffets at her home on Bush Street to impromptu pizza-at-the-pool parties at her Goat Island condo.
She looked forward to the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass celebrated at St. Joseph’s Church and the festival of Latino music, dancing and food that followed downstairs in the church hall every December. That same month, she celebrated the holidays for many years with a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree in the living room and a robust Hanukkah bush in the adjacent dining room.
Ann Marie never failed to send a thoughtful card inscribed with a kind message in her impeccable handwriting to congratulate, encourage or console a friend, colleague or loved one. She returned home from her adventures with suitcases loaded with unique gifts and native crafts collected during voyages through rain forests, deserts, forests and glaciers to be gifted to members of her large, extended family.
She was born in Newport on May 31, 1930, to Emily Pauline (O’Neill) Egan and Thaddeus Aloysious Egan. She was educated in Catholic schools, completing St. Mary’s Elementary School and graduating from St. Catherine’s Academy. Although she was offered a four-year scholarship to what was then Salve Regina College, now university, her mother insisted that she go to work. She got a job as an operator at the Telephone Company, where she made lifelong friends and worked until she got married at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in 1950.
Ann Marie leaves her son, George Oakley and his wife Laura (Swift) of Middletown; her grandsons, Bryan Oakley (Julie Menard) of Westerly, and Matthew Oakley (Amy Maddock) of North Kingstown; her five great-grandchildren, Aidan and Haley Oakley, and Keira, Ryan, and Erik Oakley; and her niece, Joan (Callahan) Smith.
Her husband, George Oakley, her daughter, Karen Oakley, and her sisters, Alice (Egan) Callahan and Emily (Egan) Goddard, predeceased her, as well as her nephews, Edward Callahan and Ralph “Ted” Goddard.
Ann Marie also leaves a large, loving, extended family that includes the many members of the Callahan, Smith and Oakley families.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, at 10: 00 am in St. Joseph’s Church, corner of Broadway & Mann Ave, Newport. Calling hours are respectfully omitted; burial will be private.
Memorial donations in Ann Marie’s name may be made to St. Joseph’s Church, 5 Mann Ave, Newport, RI 02840, or the Newport Fire Department Rescue Fund, 21 West Marlborough St, Newport, RI 02840.
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