Glenn E. Riley

Glenn Riley, age 90 of Belle Fourche, passed away Sunday, January 29^th, 2023 at the Monument Health Spearfish Hospital.

The funeral service will be held 10:30am Friday, February 3, 2023 at the First Baptist Church in Belle Fourche.  Visitation will be held 5 to 7pm Thursday, at Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche.  Interment will be held in Pine Slope Cemetery.

Glenn’s funeral can be viewed online, by clicking on the weblink located below this obituary.

Glenn and his late wife Ardis were local Beulah area ranchers for the past 40 years.  He was born on Owl Creek outside of Belle Fourche, SD on May 5^th, 1932.  Growing up he was the fifth of six boys and attended school in Belle Fourche graduating in 1951.  After graduating he worked for his Dad for two years driving truck making approximately $1830 a year.  He also worked at the Hafner Wool Warehouse in his first few years of ranching.  He married his high school sweetheart, Ardis Fishel Riley, in November 1952.

Known to many as the ambassador of Belle Fourche, his life time aspiration was always to be a cattle rancher.  In 1964 Glenn and Ardis bought the Hay Creek ranch on highway 34.  In addition to operating their own ranch, he worked for Bob McKay on the 2Y ranch.  In 1983 they bought the present-day ranch located on Red Water River near Beulah, Wyoming.  The family ranch is now operated and managed by their son Brent and grandson Bryan.  In 2008 Glenn and Ardis were named as Agricultural couple of the year.

Along with raising cattle, they raised 5 kids.  All of their children attended and graduated from Belle Fourche High School.  For many, many years they faithfully attended high school football and girls and boys basketball games; summers they attended their children's countless softball and baseball games. They also encouraged their children to be in 4-H and to attend church camp each summer.  Along with providing an education and encouraging independence, they modeled and instilled a strong work ethic and faith in God in their children.  Every Sunday the family of 7 was a regular at the First Baptist Church in Belle Fourche where he was a deacon.     

Glenn was well known for his "ranch tours" or as his kids affectionately called it "the grand tour", and his bag of jokes and tricks.  Glenn and Ardis enjoyed traveling, staying active in their church of 60 plus years, and enjoyed many friends and relatives that came out to visit the ranch.  They both had a strong sense of values and good sense of humor and enjoyed being around people hosting a wide variety of groups and visitors to the ranch.  They went out of their way to be friendly to everyone they came in contact with.

Glenn is survived by sons Bruce of San Marcos, TX., Roger of Spearfish, Brent (Cindy) of Spearfish and daughters, Kate of San Luis Obispo, CA., and Lorri of Spearfish.  In addition to their 5 children, Glenn and Ardis had 5 grandchildren; Bryan (Jess), Carmen (Nate), Adele (Kaleb), Cole, and Hannah, and 7 great grandchildren Neriah, Abigail, Liza, Sarah, Gavin, Riley, and Nora.  He was preceded in death by his wife Ardis; parents John and Gertie Riley, and brothers Buster, Willard, Gilbert, Dale, and Harold and an infant sister.

Celebration of Life Service

10:30 A.M. – Friday – February 3, 2023

First Baptist Church

Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Officiant

Pastor Tim Smith

Tributes

Kate Riley               Kenny Riley

Music

“Sweet Beulah Land”, “Come to Jesus”,

“The Old Rugged Cross”

Debra Leverington, vocalist

Cong. Hymn – “Amazing Grace”

Renee McAmis, pianist

Casketbearers

Allen Riley                                                        Cole Riley

Bruce Riley                                                   Roger Riley

Bryan Riley                                                 Gavin Jewell

Interment

Pine Slope Cemetery,

Belle Fourche,  South Dakota