Riley Griffiths died this past July. I waited to post this because I didn't want to think about his passing. 

Seems like just yesterday he announced that he had cancer. We didn't know what kind until his passing. We knew it was bad, it was pancreatic.... the worst.

He was born in Huntington, W.Va., and raised in Springfield. 

Last spring, according to the Journal News, he was inducted in the “Wall of Fame” at Shawnee High School honoring him and his Tennis doubles partner for their 1961 state championship.

He graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where he was a standout tennis player, with a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1967. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart.

He worked at GE from 1967-1970, then in 1970 he and his former business partner opened Furniture Depot in Middletown. Four years later, a building was constructed in Monroe and called Gracious Living before it was renamed Riley’s Furniture.

The first time I met Riley was very special because how genuinely nice he was to me and everyone around him. We played a few rounds of racquetball, he was a customer of mine as I was of his furniture store. We both loved our businesses and always were good to each other through our friendship and our commerce. 

He was just 75 years old, he had a generous smile and left the world a better place for those who knew him. Sad to see you go. See you again someday, my friend.