Obituary: Brenda Kay Riley
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Brenda Kay Riley was born on June 25, 1943, in Harrisburg as the second of three children to George Geltosky, a coal miner, and Mary Ann Geltosky, a dedicated homemaker. She attended Harrisburg schools and briefly studied at Southern Illinois University before chasing her dream as a professional singer-songwriter. As an adolescent in Harrisburg, she sang on the local TV station shows several times and the pursuit of her dream took her to Los Angeles, St. Louis and eventually Nashville where she celebrated success recording her own music and hearing it performed by other singers. During this time, she married Brian Riley from Portmouth, England, and together they had one child, Shawn Riley. She followed her son to Austin, Texas, some years later, where she continued in her love of music as the secretary of the Concert Choral of the University of Texas' School of Music. Her son married and gave her two loving granddaughters over whom she doted, Chloe and Phoebe.
Nearing retirement, her son introduced her to pencil drawing and her new love with visual arts flourished as she returned to her hometown of Harrisburg to be with her aging mother. She was nearly entirely self-taught and rapidly progressed from carbon drawings to vibrant layered watercolors and colorful acrylic original paintings of famous southern Illinois landmarks. Her paintings were appreciated by many people who purchased them for their homes and businesses and she proudly displayed them in local art galleries and the Harrisburg library.
She bravely fought a brief battle with lung cancer and all the while kept the ever optimistic smile, courage and charisma which indelibly marks her dearly in the memory of her loving family and friends who shall miss her inspiration and presence profoundly.
Funeral services were held at 1 p.m. Monday, April 16, 2012, at Reed Funeral Chapel in Harrisburg. The Rev. Chris Winkleman and Joe Thompson officiated. Burial was in Sunset Lawn Cemetery. Visitation was held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, April 16, 2012 at Reed Funeral Chapel in Harrisburg. Condolences may be sent to the family through the obituary page at the Internet site www.reedfuneralchapel.com.