Ronald Wayne Riley

Ronald Wayne Riley came into this world on February 23, 1939. He was the oldest child of Dan and Eve Riley. He was a very happy, energetic child. He grew up in Corbin, Kentucky with his younger sister Danell who he loved to terrorize. But at the same time he was her hero. Even though Ron was the oldest he always signed every card to her “your wittle brother”. Ron loved being with his cousins and getting into trouble with them, especially Jack. In high school he played football and won the Kentucky State Championship in 1955. Even now the Red Hounds are still a band of brothers that meet once a year in Kentucky; they recently had their 58th year reunion that he was able to attend. All of his team mates will definitely miss him. After leaving Kentucky Ron came to Phoenix and became a successful entrepreneur where he began in sales and ended with building custom homes. Everyone that met Ron loved him. He was a riot, the life of a party. Even as he was older he loved to scare the children by pulling out his teeth. Buying his first BB gun at 8 years old lead him to become an avid outdoorsman and he had a passion for bird hunting all over the world. He loved to fish, fly airplanes, travel, play a game of hearts and eat off of other people’s plates. He loved his dogs and would take them everywhere. Most importantly he loved to spend time with the ones that meant the most to him. He loved his son Mark, and would constantly tell him he loved him more that life itself. And that is a fact! The second love of his life was his grandson, Beau. He was especially proud of the young man that Beau has become. Recently added to his life is his daughter-in-law, Gina, whom he had grown to love; not only for her amazing cooking but for the love and compassion that she showered on him. He was also blessed with two beautiful granddaughters, Daniella and Kassie, who quickly found a way into his heart. Ron left this world knowing that his son was complete with his family and work. Amazingly enough, his most cherished friend was his first love, Phyllis, Mark’s mother. On any given day you could find him eating soup or a bologna/ham sandwich at Phyllis house, and of course, the sweets. You see Ron hated bologna and one day Phyllis fixed him a sandwich and told him it was ham. He thought this was the greatest ham he had ever had. So much in fact that he called her the next day and invited himself over for another fabulous “ham” sandwich. Little did he know, it was bologna. Over the years Ron had many incredible friendships. He had friends that had been a part of his life since he was 8 years old. Ron would call just to say hello and just to find out how you were doing. I know we will all miss those phone calls. Ron was a little boy from Corbin who traveled the world even meeting strangers that would become lifelong friends. Ron was generous to a fault. You never went to dinner with him that he didn’t want to pick up the bill. Ron’s greatest accomplishments were being a great father, grandfather, brother, cousin, uncle and friend. I know our lives will never be the same now that he is gone, but our lives will forever be changed from knowing him. He will always hold a special place in each of our hearts, and will forever be missed.