Inez E Riley, 98, beloved mother, grand-mother and great-grandmother, passed away May 20, 2016, in Rancho Mirage, CA.

She was born December 1, 1918, to Charles and Malinda Emory in Oriental, North Carolina. Inez was one of 13 children (8 girls and 5 boys).

Inez was married to Robert R. Riley, Jr., now deceased, of Oberlin, Kansas. As a wife of a Naval Officer, she travelled the world, living abroad and relocating within the US from East coast to West coast and back again. Throughout their travels, Inez continued to make a comfortable home for her family, even under sometimes difficult circumstances.

Two tours of duty in Panama, living in extreme heat, humidity and days of torrential rain, without the luxury of air-conditioning. Not to mention the mornings having to eliminate the scorpions and centipedes that she would find in the kitchen sink and the constant influx of roaches. One solution to keeping the roaches off the beds was to fill a jar lid with water and place under the legs of all the beds.

But, she loved the people and adapted to their lifestyle. Then there were the years of living in downtown Tokyo, in a Japanese style house with tatami on the floors, rice paper walls, Japanese wooden tub for bathing and having to boil water for everything from drinking to brushing your teeth.

It was a time of still raw feelings over the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, Inez and her family had many Japanese friends, and she loved learning to cook Japanese food and learning the art of Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, which she displayed for many years.

Inez started her adult life as a dancer and a dancing teacher, which she continued throughout her life even dancing at her assisted living facility at age 90. Her love was to teach young children to tap dance, often using their living room as her studio.

She is survived by one sister, Annette Emory Earp of Clarksburg, WV, her daughter, Jacquelon Riley Manion and son-in-law Jim Manion of Rancho Mirage, CA. Her son Robert R. Riley, III and daughter-in-law Linda Riley of Lusby, MD. Inez also leaves six grandchildren, Joel Manion of Washington, DC, Jared Manion of Rancho Mirage, CA, Juliana Manion-Copley of Rancho Mirage, CA, Ross Riley, Heather Riley Castle, and Holly Riley Netterville of Houston, TX and nine great-grand-children.

Inez Riley “lived and traveled the world but remained a southern lady”.

Her ashes will be buried next to her husband at the Oberlin-Decatur County Cemetery, Oberlin. Kansas. Pastor Gordon Pettibone of the Oberlin United Methodist Church will perform a gravesite service at 11:00 AM on September 29.

(Obit published in the Oriental, NC "The Pamlico News" on Oct. 2016.)