Obit: Riley, Rev. Arthur Charles (1883 – 1965)

Contact: Dinah Reinke

Email: dinah@wiclarkcountyhistory.org  

Surnames: Riley, Blackhall, Rayburn, Zadaraka, Fuller, Bierly, Brackley, Congram

------ Source: Tribune-Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 02/11/1965

------ Riley, Rev. Arthur Charles (6 SEP 1883 – 5 FEB 1965)

Funeral services for the Rev. Arthur Charles Riley and his wife, Mrs. Iva Riley, were held Tuesday at the Methodist church in Loyal.  The Rev. Mr. Riley died Friday, Feb. 5, at the age of 81, and his wife died Sunday, Feb. 7, at the age of 69.

The Rev. Paul Doering, Loyal, and the Rev. Herbert Thompson, La Crosse, officiated.  Burial was made in the Loyal cemetery.

The Rev. Mr. Riley, a former pastor of the Grace Methodist church at Greenwood, was born Sept. 6, 1883, in England.  In 1910 he came to British Columbia where he attended Oaknotan college and later Toronto university.

Mrs. Riley, the former Iva Jean Blackhall, was born May 17, 1896, in Ingersol, Ontario, Canada.  She received her education at Toronto university.

Following their marriage in 1916 at Wingham, Ontario, the couple came to the United States and the Rev. Riley accepted his first pastorate at Wauconda, Ill.  He later served in several other Illinois pastorates before coming to Colby and Unity in 1941.

In this area the Rev. Riley served as pastor of the Grace Methodist church at Greenwood from 1953 to 1955.  He then served at Merrilian and Arkansaw churches before retiring when the couple moved to Unity.

Survivors include four daughters, Mrs. Frederick (Marian) Rayburn, Neillsville, Mrs. Fred (Muriel) Zadaraka, Moline, Ill., Mrs. Rodney (Dorothy) Fuller, Wisconsin Rapids, and Mrs. Richard (Frances) Bierly, Peoria, Ill; two sons, Arthur C. Riley Jr., Peoria, Ill., and the Rev. Donald R. Riley, Livingston; 23 grand children and four great grand children, and one sister, Rose Riley of England.

Mrs. Riley is survived by her children and two sisters, Mrs. William (Anna) Brackley, Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada, and Mrs. Wilfred (Elsie) Congram, Wingham, Ontario, Canada, and two brothers, Clarence Blackhall, Toronto, and Charles Blackhall, Rockford, Ill.