Tusnelda R Riley

Tusnelda Renata Riley entered this life on January 13, 1920 and was received into the arms of her Savior on March 9, 2023.  She was the fifth of seven children born to Herman and Clara (Pannier) Boehner. She grew up in Olive (now North Orange) on a small orange ranch just south of what is now called Eisenhower Park.  She was baptized on February 1, 1920 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Olive by Rev. W A. Theiss. There she and all her siblings attended school.   She said about school, “I liked English and almost everything except history was hard for me. I liked painting and drawing ladies in a five cent tablet.” And when she wasn’t going to school she wrote,  “I liked playing marbles and Jack’s, yo-yos and tops and jump rope. I enjoyed visiting our school girlfriends during summertime and playing cards. I enjoyed learning how to ride a bike. Ran into a tree once. I liked playing baseball. We had a game called Mill played with buttons. I liked going flower picking in the local hills, skating, playing hide and seek, jump rope and Annie Annie Over where we’d throw a ball over a  building.  At school we also played Red Line.” After finishing elementary school, mom went on to Orange High School but dropped out to work full-time after her freshman year as their family needed the extra money with Herman’s health failing.  So at the young age of 15 Mom learned to pack oranges at the Mutual Orange Distributors Packing House there in Olive.  Then went on to pack oranges at Tustin’s  Golden West Packing House where she met Otha John Riley whom she called “my one true love.” In the summer of 1939 Otha Riley, who had fallen in love with mother there at the packing house in Tustin, presented her with a love letter confessing his love.  After that they saw quite a bit of each other and on 25 May 1940 they were married at Immanuel before Rev. A. G. Webbeking.  Before long, God blessed that union with 6 children: Sharon, David, Nathan, Miriam, Annette and Lois. There was never any question as to her deep love both for her children and for the Lord she introduced us to at an early age. Later in life mother enjoyed sewing, quilting, shopping and entering contests. She once entered a contest to give a name to a mattress and for her efforts was awarded the mattress that David and Nathan slept on for a number of years! For 103 years mom lived in the city of Orange where she got to know and love her neighbors too. If you knew our mother, then you‘d know that she had a servant’s heart and always did what she could to help whomever she could-- her church, her neighbors, her friends, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  As to the secret to a successful marriage she once wrote tellingly, “Love one another. Listen to your partner. Do things together.  Go to church. Do the work of an evangelist.  Treat your spouse like you’d like to be treated.  Play and pray.”

Mom wasn’t  perfect. None of us is, but she was perfect for us and we loved her with our whole heart and will miss her deeply.  Still there awaits a glorious reunion in the Father’s House. Till then, her family and friends would be the first to confess. “Tusnelda was something special. What a profound blessing God, for a time, entrusted to each of us–her family and dear friends.” 

(The family has requested that memorials be directed to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Tusnelda’s home church for over 80 years.)