Warren H. Riles

funeral director and co-owner, Riles & Woolley Funeral Home and Riles & Woolley Monuments, Forestville, New York, died March 20, 2020, at age 79. Riles, CFSP, was a graduate of Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science and licensed in both New York and Pennsylvania. He purchased the former Hole-Parker Funeral Chapel in Forestville in December 1970 and changed the name to Riles Funeral Home. He started Riles & Woolley Monuments in April 1989 with Mark Woolley and formed Riles & Woolley Inc. in 2001. He also served as a Chautauqua County coroner for 41 years and as chief coroner for the last nine years.

Riles was a member of NFDA; the New York State Funeral Directors Association, where he served on the board as a former Super Region A director and as a past member of the Budget and Finance Committee, Family Assistance Commission and Ad Hoc Committee; the Director’s Choice Credit Union, serving as secretary/treasurer; the Chautauqua County Funeral Directors Association, where he served as president for many years; Erie Lodge 22 IOOF and Hanover Masonic Lodge 152 F&AM; Chautauqua County Police Chief’s Association, ­American Guild of Organists and Sons of the American Revolution. Riles was currently serving as president of the Forestville Cemetery Association.

He was a past member of the Chautauqua County Emergency Medical Services Council (30 years); the New York State Association of County Coroners and Medical Examiners, where he served as first vice president; and was an exempt member of Forestville Fire Department, where, in the early 1970s, he served as captain of the rescue squad and donated a hearse to be used as the first ambulance.

Riles is survived by brother James G., three nephews and two nieces.