Mike Kerry Riley

On September 12, 2010, our beloved son, brother, uncle, Mike Kerry Riley, died at his home in Tucson.

Mike was born in Turlock, California, in 1954. He was the second child of Perry Wendell Riley and Thelma Runner Riley. He is survived by his mother and step-father, J. William and Thelma Runner Riley Reinhard, his sister Bonnie Riley, brother and sister-in-law Scott and Judy Riley, nephew Justin Riley, step-sisters Pam Reinhard Gylling (Bob) and Rebecca Reinhard Foreman (Ron), and countless other friends in the local community and extended Riley and Runner aunts, uncles and cousins in California and beyond, including aunt June Riley Combellack and aunt and uncle Dan and Judy Riley.

A graduate of Tucson High School, Class of ’73, Mike ran his own auto repair service, Mike’s Repairs, for over 30 years. He has been an active supporter of the Old Pueblo rugby club and later an enthusiastic volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

There is nothing Mike liked better than to serve good food to a big crowd of people. He prepared thousands of meals over his lifetime, first to rugby teammates and supporters, later for fund-raisers and celebrations for Habitat, and not least for the annual Fourth of July celebration that serves as the Runner Family reunion in northern California.

Friends may be surprised to learn that Mike was an accomplished bassoon player in his youth, and he used to enjoy visiting with his father and step-mother while attending the Dixieland Jazz Festival in Sacramento, California. For a brief time he even held his own pilot’s license. He was also a creative sculptor in metal. Perhaps most important, Mike was a generous and genial human being, treating friends and strangers alike with dignity and a deep sense of each individual’s worth.

Funeral services will be held Sunday, September 19, 2010, at East Lawn Palms Mortuary, 5801 E Grant Road, in Tucson: viewing at 1 p.m. and service at 2 p.m.

Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations in Mike’s memory be made to Habitat for Humanity.