Rory Michael Riley, age 70, passed on to our Lord, peacefully in his home on March 14th. His love of family and friends, his friendly good nature and gift for making people laugh will be dearly missed and remembered in the hearts of his large family and many friends.

He leaves his loving wife, Kathleen (KC) of 43+ years, His son Joshua Riley (Cheryl), daughter, Amy O’Neill (Sean), and son Samuel Riley; beautiful grandsons, Collin (10) and Aaron (5) O’Neill; his 6 sisters, Kathie (Jim) Schnabel, Maureen (Tim) Reardon, Sheila (Michael) King, Susie (Michael) Alberigi, Debbi (Peter) Poiani, John Riley (Dee), Brigid (Bruce) Pickering. He also leaves 22 nieces and nephews, and -1 great nephew.

Born to Hugh and Bets Riley on August 13, 1945, Rory was their 3rd child and first son in a family that would later grow to be 8 children. Raised in San Anselmo and San Rafael, California Rory attended St. Anselm’s and St. Raphael’s for grammar schools, St. Ignatius in San Francisco for High School, and for then graduated from University of San Francisco in 1967.
Shortly after graduation he was drafted into the Army as part of the Corps of Engineers. He went to Ft. Lewis in Washington for Basic, on to Ft. Leonard Woods in Missouri for AIT training and then to Ft. Campbell Kentucky to await assignment to Vietnam. He shipped out about April 1969 as a Private in the 81st Combat Engineers. Arriving home fairly unscathed a year later as a Sergeant with a Bronze Star and Special Service Medal. He was proud of serving and enjoyed the comradery of the people he worked with.

Rory enjoyed working in the commercial hardware business during his career. First for Stanley Hardware for 22 years, beginning as a sales rep for Northern Cal, and later relocated to Southern Cal to serve as the Western Regional Manager. After Stanley, he worked for 13 years at Adams Rite Hardware where he contributed to new designs and patents for commercial doors and hardware.
He spent the final 9 years of his career running his own Rep Firm, Architectural Door Sales, selling commercial doors and hardware, covering California, Arizona and Nevada. He retired from it all 3 1/2 years ago to relax and spend more time with his family, travel a bit and enjoy golf with friends and family.

His Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 30th, 11:00 AM, La Purisima Catholic Church, 11712 N Hewes, Orange, CA. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to American Family Housing – Potter’s Lane or to The Sheepfold in Orange.

“Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. -Luke 12:17