Michael Kirn Riley, beloved brother, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather went home on March 26, 2025 at the age of 90. Mike was born in Fallon, Nevada to Howard and Lucile Kirn Riley.
Among his greatest joys in life were his eight children, thirteen grandchildren, and eleven (soon to be twelve) great-grandchildren. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his family. He was always present, a steady guiding force – offering a listening ear, a comforting shoulder, and wise counsel whenever needed.
He met his life partner and wife, Thora Peterson, in the early 1950s at San Juan High School and soon they started dating. Following high school, Mike worked as a switchman for Southern Pacific Railroad and Thora was a lumber company bookkeeper.
He was a Catholic whose mother wanted him to become a priest. She was a Mormon who’d grown up in church. Both sets of parents just knew that it was doomed for failure from the get-go, but Mike and Thora knew better. So they ran off to Reno and eloped. Their families learned about the marriage when, unbeknownst to Michael and Thora, it was listed in the Sacramento Bee. They’d raise their kids as what they called “Cat-Mor,” going to the Catholic church one week, the Mormon church the next. Their love held strong and they celebrated their 70th anniversary on October 12, 2024.
In the mid-1950s, Michael started working in an Aerojet plant in Rancho Cordova as an Experimental Mechanic on all phases of the Navy’s submarine-launched Polaris missile including assembly of rocket nozzles, chambers and mixing thick, dough-like solid rocket propellant.
The Rileys moved to Southern California in the mid-1960s. Michael took an engineering job, building submarine parts, and eventually managed a metal fabricating division.
With their kids in college, Michael and Thora decided to open their own metal fabricating shop. They figured the business should start with an “A” so it would appear at the top of the phone book. They settled on AMRO — A Michael Riley Operation.
In 1977, AMRO opened an 8,000-square-foot shop in South El Monte with six employees. One of their biggest jobs at the time was making metal frames that held HEPA filters. Their kids and grandkids helped grow the company and achieved tremendous milestones including providing panels that made up the space shuttles’ external tanks and window panels for the Orion spacecraft. Mike described AMRO as the American dream, sharing once “Two kids got married at 19 and started a business, and now we’re going to Mars.”
Mike was preceded in death by his loving wife Thora, his brother, Bud, five brothers-in-law and three sisters-in-law. He leaves behind a large and loving family, including: Sister: Tish Jorgensen. Sister-In-Laws: Jean Riley and Marilyn Peterson. Children: Michelle Bunn (Alan), Steve Riley (Debbie), Cindy Brown (Randy), Aquilina Hutton (Mark). Grandchildren: Laura Kinto (Troy), Michael Riley (Chelsey), Katelyn Rigali (Mike), Josh Brown, Tori Seib (Dirk), Travis Bunn (Erin) and Krista Cuthbertson (Michael). Great-grandchildren: Riley, Hank & Crosby Kinto, Rowan, Remington & Sloane Riley, Capri & Reece Rigali, Weston Seib, Alison Bartram (Dillon) and Paul Cuthbertson.
Mike’s legacy is one of love, strength, and unwavering devotion to family. He touched countless lives with his kindness and wisdom, and while he will be deeply missed, his spirit lives on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.
A celebration of his life will be held April 12, 2025 at noon at the Colony Clubhouse, 40710 Avenita Flores, Murrieta, CA 92562.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to San Juan High School Memorial Scholarship. https://sanjuanalumniassociation.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/sanjuanalumniassociation/campaign.jsp?campaign=24&
