Geneva "Jenny" Riley

ATHENS – Geneva “Jenny” Riley, 82, of Athens, our mother, grandmother, great grandma and friend, left us Sunday, July 22, 2018 at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital to join her Lord, family and friends awaiting her.

Born July 28, 1935 in Athens, she was the daughter of the late Thomas and Pleasant Gillete Wilson.

Jenny was a 1953 graduate of Athens High School and also graduated from Holzer Hospital School of Nursing and attended Rio Grande College, University of Cincinnati and Ohio University where she maintained a 4.0. She had a long and gratifying career that encompassed almost all branches of nursing. After traveling and serving in hospitals and physicians offices in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida, she returned to Athens and was the first Director of Nursing at the new O’Bleness Memorial Hospital. She was recruited as Administrator of the Medical/Surgical Hospital at Athens Mental Health Center and was soon appointed Director of Nursing there. She was instrumental in moving patients into the new Southeast Psychiatric Hospital and served her patients and staff there until her retirement. Her empathy and compassion for both patients and staff was unending. Jenny received recognition from the Governor of Ohio for outstanding performance as a Director of Nursing. She received a commendation from the medical staff for writing new rules, regulations and bylaws for the medical staff that were accepted by both the State of Ohio and the Joint Commission for accreditation of Hospitals. Jenny’s greatest love was for her Lord and her family.

She is survived by a daughter, Melissa Riley; three great grandsons, Dominic Dailey, Jason Meadows and Gabriel Dailey; her uncle, Cecil Gillette; a special cousin and her husband who helped her in so many ways, Judy and Clyde Beasley; and many other cousins and special friends.

Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by a daughter, Lisa Klinglesmith; grandparents, Arra and Lucy Gillette; aunts and uncles, Charles and Lucille Cone, Harold and Mary Gillette and Delmer Gillette.

Services will be Wednesday at 1:00 PM at Hughes-Moquin Funeral Home with Rev. Phil Ridenour officiating. Burial will be in West Union Street Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home Wednesday one hour prior to the service.  Friends and family may sign the online guestbook at our website, www.hughesmoquinfuneralhome.com.