Bob was the 6th of 7 children born to Fred Thomas Riley & Minnie Velma Douglas. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters: Carolyn Sue Hull & Nita June Rutherford. Bob was born on the Riley homeplace in Massac Co., IL, right at the Massac/Pulaski County line, along the Ohio River.

He attended school at Joppa and left school to pursue work, just before graduation. He married Pauline Culbertson in 1950 and they lived in Massac Co., IL for a while before heading to Chicago for better opportunities. Bob worked for International Harvester in Maywood, IL in the early 1950's.

Dad was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington just before he shipped out over to Pusan, Japan. He traveled inland by train to Korea. He served in the Army during the Korean War. When he came home from Korea, he and his cousin, James Miller, owned and operated a business in Metropolis, IL. Bob worked in one end of the shop doing refrigeration work and James made car repairs at the opposite end.

Dad had a sister and brother-in-law that lived in Evansville who suggested that he look for work in their area, so he and Pauline went to Evansville and Newburgh, IN for work about 1955. In 1960 the opportunity arose to work for the Paradise Steam Plant in Muhlenberg Co., KY so the family moved to Greenville, where they have lived ever since. He worked many construction jobs, where he drove a truck or some kind of equipment, and was a Teamster out of Local 215 in Evansville, IN. He worked on the building stages, and expansions, of several power plants across Southern IN, IL and in KY. He worked on a job laying a cable across the floor of the Ohio River in, or near, Derby, Indiana and he worked at Alcoa Aluminum Plant near Yankeetown, IN, the Rockport, IN Steam Plant and others.

Dad was a wonderful father and grandfather. He always made time for his family, but especially so for his parents, kids and grandchildren. He helped his grandchildren build projects for their various 4-H projects throughout the years. He got to see all of them graduate high school, college and his oldest granddaughter to get married and to enjoy his great granddaughter, Brooke.

He loved his family home/farm in Massac Co., IL and spent most weekends there while living in Greenville. Dad always had some kind of project he was working on or something he was repairing. Dad was gifted with the Art of Storytelling in our family. He inherited that from his father who often told "family" stories of an evening or when the family was gathered for a meal.