Funeral service for Matsuko Uechi Riley will be 10:00 A.M. Friday, September 28, 2018 at New Post Chapel, Fort Sill with Chaplain (MAJ) Eric Dean officiating.

Burial will follow in Post Cemetery, Fort Sill under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

The family will greet friends from 6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Thursday at the funeral Home.

Matsuko Uechi Riley was born May 1, 1929 in Shimoji-cho, Miyako-jima, Okinawa-ken, Japan.  A devout Christian, devoted wife and loving mother and grandmother, she passed away on 22 September 2018 at age 89.  She was the younger of two daughters and seven surviving brothers.  Her Father, Ryokichi Uechi, and Mother, Matsukama (Iraha) were members of a prominent and respected family of Miyako Island, and as a teenager, she witnessed some of the horrors of WWII.  Always an excellent student and athlete, after high school she trained and taught junior high students for a year before moving to the island of Okinawa, where she worked at the Main Post Exchange and met her future husband.  In her free time, she studied English diligently and was being considered for a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan but chose to get married.  On 24 March 1955 in Naha, Okinawa, she married 1LT Robert S. Riley, a West Point Graduate, who was assigned to Okinawa following a tour of duty in Korea.  She took the big leap to begin a new life in a new country and culture and left her education prospects and beloved family.  She supported her husband on various moves and career assignments in New Jersey, Michigan, Arizona, back to Okinawa with her two children, Oklahoma and Kansas.  As an Army wife, Matsuko participated in many unit, Post, and social activities in Fort Sill, Okinawa, and Fort Leavenworth, as a member of the Officers' Wives Clubs and as a Red Cross Volunteer with the Well Baby Clinic at Reynolds Army Community Hospital. In 1971, Matsuko was awarded The Artillery Order of Molly Pitcher for her volunteer work and participation in many community activities in Fort Sill.  Following her husband's retirement from the Army in 1978, and she and Bob took up residence in Lawton, OK.

Whilst living in Lawton, Matsuko continued to be active in the Fort Sill Officers' Wives' Club and various community activities at Fort Sill.  She delighted in playing (and winning) weekly games of bridge with friends, entertaining with her famous Asian buffet dinners, and sponsored many foreign officer students and their families attending the US Army Field Artillery School.  Matsuko faithfully attended the New Post Chapel at Ft. Sill for many years and was also an active member of her Japanese Bible Study Group, led by a Japanese pastor from Dallas.  They enjoyed monthly worship, native food, and fellowship.  In 1999, she was honored at a special ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, for her support and sponsorship of various Japanese students and their families.  Most recently in November 2015, she and her husband were honored with a special ceremony by visiting Japanese military dignitaries and the International Student Division at Ft. Sill.  She was feted at a special luncheon and awarded the Japanese Defense Cooperation Medal, and a Certificate of Commendation (by Major General Takashi Motomatsu.)

Her parents and all of her siblings except her youngest brother have predeceased her.

She is survived by her husband, COL(Retired) Robert S. Riley, daughter Elizabeth M. Riley, son Robert S. Riley, Jr., and wife Michele; grandsons Michael Riley Landau and Nicholas Shean Landau, granddaughter Rachel Jean Riley and her youngest brother, Yoiichi Uechi of Okinawa-ken, Japan.