Clayton Ford Riley

Clayton was born on September 25, 1925, in Hinckley, Ohio, the youngest of seven children of Julian and Winifred Riley.

Clayton was a true son of Ohio – particularly Cleveland – where he navigated the Great Depression years with a spirt of adventure, always building relationships with people along the way, appreciating each day God gave him on this Earth.

After his graduation from Parma High School in 1943, Clayton enlisted in the United States Navy. He attended radio school at the University of Chicago and made his way west to San Francisco and Honolulu where he received training to be part of the planned amphibious invasion of Japan. As fate would have it, he landed in Japan as part of one of history’s greatest peacekeeping efforts. After the war, and thanks to the G.I. bill, he graduated in 1950 from the College of Commerce at his beloved “Ohio U.” During those 4 years in Athens, Ohio, Clayton made life-long friendships through his beloved Beta Theta Pi fraternity, singing in the Glee Club and enjoying life to the fullest. Soon after college, he was drafted for the Korean Conflict with orders to report to NAS Jacksonville. Legend has it that upon getting off the train in downtown Jacksonville, he met Ed Morrow, who he noticed was wearing a “Beta” ring. Not long after that encounter, Ed invited Clayton to his parents’ house in Avondale to meet Ed’s beautiful 20-year-old cousin from Wilmington, North Carolina, Maureen O’Crowley, who happened to be visiting during her spring break. It was love at first sight. Within just a few weeks, Clayton and Maureen were engaged and they made Jacksonville their home.

In 1951, Clayton started the Riley-Kirby Company, with his first office located on the second floor of the Green Derby restaurant. Known by many as the “greatest salesman of all time,” Clayton’s distributorship sold over 100,000 Kirby vacuum cleaners in the greater Jacksonville area. Many of his salespeople would go on to lead extremely successful careers in finance and industry, all attributing their success to having first learned Clayton’s skill in selling a product. Like many in his generation, Clayton worked tirelessly at his trade, often winning Cadillacs and Lincolns and luxury vacations for his sales production. But as hard as he worked, Clayton also played just as hard. With a seemingly bottomless energy, he was known to play 18 holes, 3 sets of tennis and a volleyball match at the Riverside Y …. all in one day!

As one of the original members of Westside Rotary Club (where he was a multi-recipient of the Paul Harris Award), Clayton immersed himself into community activities: the Gator Bowl Association, Sales and Marketing Executives Club, Jacksonville University, the Chamber of Commerce… the list is simply too long to name them all. But more than anything, he loved serving his church, Riverside Presbyterian, where he served in every leadership capacity and “led the singing” for his Sunday School class for 50 years.

In 1960, he joined Timuquana Country Club where he enjoyed more than six decades of relationships built over rounds of golf, meals, and Mixed Doubles tennis matches, but none more cherished than his “Friday Night Group” lovingly served by his good friend, Rodger Adams. His passion for golf was borne as a teenager by caddying at the Ridge Road Country Club where he taught himself how to play. Throughout his life, he would recall winning the Ridge Road “Caddy Championship” as one of the true highlights of his life. For more than 40 years, he hosted a family Christmas tournament that sold out each year and was always topped off by his singing of “Silent Night” after all the awards were given.

He and Maureen had six children. Their marriage was a love story for the ages. Starting out in Lake Shore, they lived in Ortega Forest, surrounded by long-time neighbors who through the generations have supported each other like an extended family. Harkening back to his youth when he delivered papers on his bike for the Cleveland News, Clayton was known to ride his bike around the entire neighborhood on a daily basis, often stopping in people’s driveways for some conversation.

In 1978, Maureen died at the age of 46 from melanoma. A few years later, Clayton met Mary Elizabeth (“Bibbie”) Ingram who like Clayton was a widower at a young age. The two realized that lightning can indeed strike twice, and before you knew it, Clayton added 5 stepchildren to his family. Clayton and Bibbie enjoyed the next 40 years together, hosting epic Super Bowl parties, Crescent Beach reunions, tennis matches, staying close to their grandchildren, and traveling around the country.

Clayton had a rather simply philosophy: he loved people. Being part of a crowd was his jet fuel. He seemed to have thousands of friends, treating each one equally with respect and a warm embrace, no matter their station in life, and perhaps, if they were lucky, he’d give them a “Riley-Kirby paring knife.” And guess what? They all loved him.

During the last few years, Clayton was fortunate to be in the path of a wonderful cadre of caregivers and friends at the Windsor of Ortega, all of whom treated him with respect and love, and who of course, were themselves treated to his expressions of thanks, humor and singing along the way. He will miss his big table of friends at mealtime.

Clayton is survived by his six children, Ford (Elizabeth), Scott (Missy), Martha Love Rotella (Jay), Jenifer Skinner (Chip), Paul (Kelly) and Jim (Dana), as well as his four stepchildren, David Ingram (Terry), Laurie Stottlemyer (Joe), Andy Ingram and Susan McCormack (Vincent), as well as 26 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren, with two more coming in June. Bibbie and her daughter, Jennifer Tucker, predeceased him.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Monday, January 29, 2024 at Riverside Presbyterian Church, 849 Park Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32204. In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to Riverside Presbyterian Family Life Center Campaign, (https://www.rpds.com/giving/cornerstone-campaign) 849 Park Street Jacksonville, Florida 32204, or to The Riverside Campaign.