Brenda Hardy (Presson) Riley

With great sorrow, we announce the passing of Brenda Carolyn Riley, aged 79 years, on December 6th, 2024.  Brenda was the daughter of Aundry Wade Nolen and Ruth Genave Presson (Rhodes)

Brenda worked hard.  From a young age, she always had jobs, including waitressing, factory work and, later in life, cleaning houses and taking in laundry and ironing. 

The true purpose in her life, of course, was family.  From as young as eight or nine years, she continuously loved and cared for children, her own and others’, to her last day before entering her heavenly home.

She was a spitfire of a woman, having said throughout her life “I may be little, but I’m loud”.  Diminutive in stature, the “little” is self-evident.  However, anyone who might dare raise the “loud” would quickly learn she was an unstoppable force. 

Surviving family are her sister Anita Phelps, her sons Allen (Marsha) Fisher and Brian (Lindy) Fisher and daughter Alicia (Matt) Jeffers; her grandchildren, Chad Fisher, Justin Fisher, Sarah Prough, Ginny Campbell, Lauren Ronnander, Sean Fisher, Charlotte Jeffers and Abigail Jeffers; and her great-grandchildren Kyndal, Indy, Stella, Waylon, Tulah, Knox, Avenue, Madeline and Jove.

Brenda was preceded in death by her parents, her husband James Riley, a sister Diane Williams and brother Freddie Nolen.

She was a woman of faith and an active member of the Caruthersville First Assembly of God church.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, at 12:00 noon at Caruthersville First Assembly of God with Pastors Chad Fisher and Shawn Harding officiating. Internment will follow in Little Prairie Cemetery.

Visitation for family and friends will begin at the church at 11 a.m.

H.S. Smith Funeral Home in charge of services.

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