ForeverMissed
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His Life

Obituary

March 5, 2014

     John “David” Riley, age 80, resided at Bethany Homes in Fargo, North Dakota, where he passed away in the early morning of Wednesday, February 26, 2014. Although his family is present to honor his memory, he died in peace with his Lord as his much-loved companion.                                                      

     David was born on May 24, 1933 in Oakdale, Kentucky, the son of Reverend John M. Riley and Edna L. Riley. As they were missionaries, David’s childhood years were spent in South Africa where he was home-taught early on and later studied at a government boarding school. He sailed to the United States in 1952 to attend Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois. He soon met, pursued, and married his wife, Annie L. Robinson. They were married 57 years until her death on June 28, 2011. Upon his graduation, David and Annie began their own journey as lifetime missionaries. They and their new baby travelled to Belgium to learn French for their tenure in Burundi, Africa, under the Evangelical Yearly Meeting of Friends. David earned his Electronics Technician qualifications in the interim, allowing him to enhance his career in radio technology. So began his life in Christian radio. Including two furlough years, they spent sixteen years in Burundi where they witnessed the horrific trauma within tribal genocide. David was instrumental in smuggling several people out of the country, despite threats of deportation. Leaving their term early, they gathered their four children and flew to the United States to heal. They spent the subsequent years in Haviland, Kansas, until their children completed high school. While there, David worked for the Haviland Telephone Company and Cross Manufacturing. Responding to God’s call for further missionary service, David and Annie left Kansas to work for Radio Lumiere in La Jeune, Haiti, under the World Gospel Mission. There too, they were inflicted with the effects of the despotic regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Again, they left that mission field and began work on the Tex-Mex border in McAllen, Texas for Radio HCJB World Radio. They were there until their retirement in 1997 where they were blessed to have spent many years at the Bradenton Missionary Village in Bradenton, Florida. Most of that time involved David taking on the role of the sole caregiver for Annie’s long-term effects of a catastrophic vehicle accident. Upon her death, David moved to North Dakota in September, 2011 to be near his daughter, Judy.

     David was a certified genius, an inventor, a tinker, and a wordsmith. He learned twelve languages, often speaking them in his sleep. His impact upon the world was phenomenal, although few will ever know just how much their lives became better because of his scientific contributions, spiritual impact, and investment in people.

     “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”  Psalm 116:15    

      John David Riley is survived by his children:

     Judyth Grover of Harwood, ND---her husband, Jeff, and their children: Joshua Grover, (his wife, Kristine, and children: McKennon, Keaton, and Emmersyn); JoRelle Grover; and Jadon Grover---

     Teresa Buckingham of Dayton, OH---her husband, Greg, and their children:  John Buckingham, (his wife, Rachel, and child: Eva); Tiffany Cook, (her husband, Dustin, and child: Rylan); Cassandra Buckingham; Timothy Buckingham; Matthew Buckingham; Luke Buckingham; Molly Buckingham; and Daniel Buckingham---

     Susan Riley of Belton, TX---her children: Cameron Youmans; Lynea Youmans; and Annie Youmans---

     Eric Riley of Belton, TX.

     He is also survived by his siblings:  Thomas (Faye) Riley of Hermitage, TN; Paul (Martha) Riley of Riverside, CA, and their daughters and grandchildren; Lois (Duane) Norden, and their children and grandchildren. David survived his parents’ deaths, the death of a nephew (John Riley), the death of a granddaughter (Katey Buckingham), and the death of his dear wife, Annie.

PAUL’S RECOLLECTIONS

March 2, 2014

David was born at Oakdale Free Methodist Mission in Breathitt County, Kentucky. He was delivered by Nurse Harriet Francis who became a close friend of our family. She even came to South Africa to work as an independent missionary and lived with us at times.

The winter of 1934, Rileys moved to a Rock Lick, a remote Mission Station, six miles back in the woods from Oakdale Mission. There David developed Rickets, he was sick and his bones were becoming deformed. David was not getting enough sunshine because of the bitter cold. No milk was available -- the moonshiners, surrounding the mission, were trying to “starve out” the Rileys! But after reading Proverbs 27:27, Edna Riley was not surprised when a lady from their Church in McPherson, Kansas, sent them, unsolicited, several milk goats by train. David recovered completely and the whole family regained their health from drinking the goat milk.

After I was born 9 January, 1935, David’s mom found him under the bed with a pair of pliers working with the bed springs. When asked what he was doing David said; “Fixing motor car.” David had never seen a motor car! Later, in Africa, at age 5, David would sneak down to the shop where his dad was lecturing to motor mechanic students, all high school graduates. He would hide behind the students since his dad had told him to stay away from there. Later he caught David repeating the lectures to the students and answering their questions. One day David got into our 1927 Buick and drove it around the mission station shifting perfectly and then parked it so my dad could not tell it had been moved. He did not need any drivers ed! But he had to stand up all the time to reach the pedals! If a student hadn’t ratted on him our dad would have never found out. His brain was prewired for mechanical stuff. He could not concentrate on his studies in first grade because he said wheels were going around in his head all the time. When someone lost the key to a trunk, David made one from scratch. Soon women were coming from miles away carrying huge steamer trunks, foot lockers, phonographs and even pieces of furniture on their heads. They had lost the keys to these items. Using pieces of scrap metal, drills, files and a hacksaw David would successfully make keys for these people. He was only stumped once. Someone found a beautiful key and insisted that David make them a lock to fit the key!   When he was 12 years old he made a steam engine. In college, David worked in the print shop. He kept the machinery operating smoothly.  A few days ago LeOra (Samuelson) Mudge, who operated the linotype machine at the printshop, told me by Email, how much she learned from David about the machine.  In college he also helped with the college radio station, and was a licensed Ham radio operator. In Burundi, David found a large 440 volt generator. He stripped all the wiring off of it the rewound the motor by hand changing it to the local 220 volts. He then used it to supply hydroelectric power to the station. He also made a voltage regulator to keep the voltage constant in spite of changes in the flow of water to the generator. He also made an automatic telephone switchboard for the mission station to replace the unreliable manual switchboard. His unorthodox thinking kept radio CORDAC on the air. During the genocide in Burundi, David’s innovations helped several pastors and their families escape from the country.

In 1936, Rileys moved to Smyrna, Tennessee, where John Riley pastored the church. When a dog kept coming to attacks the goats, John had to shoot it. I was not awake but David was watching. I remember him telling me the next day how he was impressed by the big flash of the shotgun. In 1937, the church burned down. This was very hard on David, I remembering him screaming;-  “The church is burning down, the church is burning down!”. I remember both of us riding our big black billy goat, Drum-drum. We both rode him at the same time. But later our dad heard David screaming. Drum-drum had him against the fence and was butting him repeatedly. Fortunately, that goat had no horns, but the bruises were bad enough!

The Rileys arrived in South Africa on 27 January, 1938. When WWII ended, hundreds of  missionaries in South Africa were overdue for furloughs. There was only room for three more on the freighter, MARSHFIELD VICTORY.  So David, Paul, and their dad sailed several months ahead of Edna and the two younger kids.  On that ship the passengers were housed in the old gunners’ quarters directly over the propeller. The floor of the cabin was vibrating all the time and the grinding of the propeller was very loud. When the sea became rougher, the propeller would lift up right out of the water, speed up and then plunge back under the water. All the twelve passengers, except David, became seasick. But David was immune. He visited every part of the ship and spent most of the time in the control and engine rooms and wanted to learn everything about the ship. He timed the fuel consumption. He was impressed that the engines were burning twelve gallons of fuel oil every minute! Several months later our mother Edna and the two younger children sailed to America on a converted troop trip “Marine Tiger”.  Several thousand passengers were packed in like sardines!

In high school in Port Shepstone, South Africa, we had compulsory CADETS.   It was like the ROTC here in USA.  David excelled in target shooting. It was also a science which he perfected. Often the bulls-eye in the target was one big hole. No one could believe he could put all ten bullets through one hole so David had to purposely spread all ten bullet holes around in the bull’s eye so they could all be counted. He had mastered that subject just as he had done for his other projects.

Yes, David was so different and unique, that sometimes it was very hard to follow his logic. Fortunately, His wife, Annie, was down to earth and practical and knew how to keep David in check whenever his discussions and actions could not be comprehended by the average person. Several times she was able to stop him from risking his life or giving all his money to suffering and needy people! Hurrah, they are back together again, so heaven is going to stay the same!  And now David has the answers to all his research and questions!

Written by: DAVID’S YOUNGER BROTHER, PAUL RILEY, Riverside CA,  Email; hlinza@ymail.com