Marie Teresa Ríos (November 9, 1917 – October 17, 1999), known as Tere Ríos, was an American writer and the author of the 1965 book The Fifteenth Pelican which was the basis for the 1960s Screen Gems television sitcom, The Flying Nun. Ríos was the mother of Humbert Roque Versace, the first U.S. Army prisoner of war in Southeast Asia awarded the Medal of Honor. Early years Ríos was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Rafael Rios, a native of Puerto Rico who moved and settled in Brooklyn in the early part of the 20th century and to Marie Teresa Dowd, an American of Irish heritage. Ríos was proud of her Puerto Rican heritage and a devout Catholic who became interested in writing at a young age. In the 1930s, she met and married Humbert Joseph Versace, a 1933 graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point). Together they had five children, Humbert Roque, twins Stephen and Richard Versace (former coach of the Indiana Pacers), Michael and Trilby. As an Army wife, she traveled to different places around the world, including Hawaii, where her first child, Humbert Roque was born. Career as a writer During World War II, Ríos (also known as Marie Teresa Ríos Versace ) drove Army trucks and buses. She also served as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. Ríos wrote and edited for various newspapers around the world, including places such as Guam, Germany, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and publications such as the Armed Forces Star & Stripes and Gannett. She also taught creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and was on the staff of the Rhinelander Writers Conference. In 1958, she was named "Wisconsin Writer of the Year". In 1957, Ríos published her first book An Angel Grows Up using the pen name "Tere Ríos". She soon followed that with another book, Brother Angel (1963). The Fifteenth Pelican and Humbert Roque Versace Her eldest son, Humbert Roque Versace, followed his father's footsteps and graduated from West Point. He was sent to the Republic of Vietnam as a military advisor with the rank of captain. During his second tour in Vietnam he was captured on October 29, 1963, along with two other Americans, by the Viet Cong. Captain Versace was executed by his captors on September 26, 1965, an event which devastated her. She published her third book, titled The Fifteenth Pelican,