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John Howard Riley
Sep 15, 1942 - Jan 8, 2015
© Bishop Funeral Home
January 15, 2015
Submitted by:
Carol Spear Rice
After a recent diagnosis of lung cancer, John Howard Riley died
in his sleep on January 8, 2015 at his Wilburton home at the age of 72.
John was born on September 15, 1942 in Higgins, Oklahoma, the
tenth child of Andrew Leonard (Andy) Riley and Thelma Gist
Riley. John attended Hartshorne Schools until his graduation in
1960.
After attending Eastern Oklahoma State College for a year, he
enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1962. John served on
detached duty under command of the National Security Agency in
South Vietnam in 1963, installing communications stations and
teaching the local army to communicate via Morse code. Attaining
the rank of Sergeant, John served the rest of his enlistment in
Germany before returning to southeastern Oklahoma in 1966.
John met Carol Kay Hedge in August, 1966 and after a whirlwind
courtship married her on November 4, 1966 in Wilburton,
Oklahoma. Their union in marriage lasted forty years until Carol
lost her protracted battle with ovarian cancer in 2006. Their
love produced two daughters, Angela Kristin and Jennifer Rose.
They moved around Oklahoma in the early part of their marriage
settling in Norman between 1983 and 1992, but always considered
Wilburton as home. In 1992 they returned to Wilburton and
purchased a century-old farmhouse on Main Street where they both
lived out their remaining lives.
John continued his education with the help of his lovely wife,
earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering
from the University of Oklahoma in 1972. His engineering career
has included a private practice as a Registered Land Surveyor
and Industrial and Safety Engineer positions with the US Navy,
the US Army and the State of Oklahoma, where he retired from the
Oklahoma State Insurance Fund in 2004.
John was a driven professional but had a love of genealogy and
arts and crafts. John was skilled in sewing, leather craft, and
wood-working. He sewed prom dresses and anatomically correct
Cabbage Patch dolls. He tooled beautiful leather wallets and
belts. He turned down an offer from Walmart to carry his
hand-crafted barn-wood picture frames.
A self-described (Old Phart) and local historian, John was also
a natural-born story-teller and loved to entertain with his
(Riley Backyard Stories). He compiled a genealogy and family
history anthology and worked on the great American novel from
time to time. He also had a strong belief that each generation
should live better than the last, a statement he often regretted
when his daughters reminded him of it throughout the years.
John is survived by his two daughters and sons-in-law: Angela
Williams and Robert of Austin, Texas, and Jennifer Malone and
Delton of Wilburton; three grandchildren: Robert Trey Williams,
Kaitlyn Williams, and Grace Malone; his sister: Maudine McClaren
of Georgetown, Texas; his brothers and sisters-in-law: Jim Riley
and Freda of Tulsa, and Eldon Riley and Rita of Hartshorne;
numerous nieces, nephews and cousins; and his special friend:
Tommie Faye Humburg.
He is preceded in death by his wife: Carol Kay Riley; his
parents; his sister: Louise; and his brothers: Leonard, Leon,
Lawrence, T. J., and Marcus.
A memorial mass will celebrate his
life on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. at the Sacred
Heart Catholic Church located at 102 Centerpoint Road in
Wilburton; followed by a family dinner at the Fellowship Hall.
John requested to be cremated. His ashes will be interred at the
family plot in Mountain Station Cemetery this March with a
graveside service.
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