Bert Risley, Jr., affectionately called J.R. or Junior, was the fifth of eight children born to Jewel Juanita Couch and Berten Joseph Risley on October 2, 1933 in Cookson, OK. He joined many family and friends at the feasting table of Jesus on September 10, 2013 after his loving heart stopped following a month long battle of pneumonia after a stroke on June 20, 2013 at Sparks Medical Center in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Junior married the former Barbara Jean Fink Garner on August 19, 1966 and began a life long adventure with she and her five-year-old daughter Kimberly Jo Garner. Together they had two daughters, Kelly and Karleen. They lovingly knew him as Daddy.
Junior worked hard his whole life; from picking fruit and cotton in his youth, doing construction, driving a dump truck and after retiring in 2000, he worked at Blue Ribbon Downs with track maintenance. He stopped working in 2008 after his diabetes worsened.
J.R. proudly served as a Corporal in the United States Army in Korea along with his brother Johnny and his cousin Lloyd Cook. He was a gunner in the Battery "A" 11th Field Artillery Battalion from 1953 to 1955. He was a decorated veteran of the Korean Conflict.
Junior loved life; he was known as a mischievous man, always playing tricks and jokes on people. He loved to laugh, and he often got a kick out of people who did not know how to take his dry sense of humor. He was a devoted republican and felt it was his duty to sway democrats to vote the other way. He spent his youth with his five brothers going to concerts, dance halls and getting into fights (fights they swear others started), and later in life they spent reminiscing together. His brothers fondly called him "Bub".
In his later years, he loved to garden, rabbit hunt, raise beagles, spend time with family, argue politics, and he could still keep the dance floor hot from time to time.
After his bypass surgery in the summer of 2011, J.R. traded in his red Nissan for an Army green Kia that he loved. He would drive daily to a café and spend the morning or afternoon (sometimes both) conversing with friends. J.R. thought RFD-TV and the Encore Western Channel were the greatest creations since slice bread. Friday and Saturday nights were spent watching and singing with the music programs on RFD-TV and during the week, he devotedly watched the western channel, even though he had seen the westerns many times he would watch them repeatedly.
His children and grandchildren remember him cooking extraordinary breakfasts of bacon, biscuits and gravy, a trait he learned from his mother and passed on to his daughter. He loved to eat a good home cooked meal.
He is preceded in death by his mother, father, his sisters Judy K. and Fray Combs, brothers: Johnny, Delbert, and Pliney, and one loyal dog named Henry.
He is survived by Barbara Risley of Roland, OK, his daughters Kimberly Doengi of Roland, OK and her three sons, Ryan, James and Dillon. Kelly and Jud Henshaw and their two daughters, Allie and Autumn and one son, Aubrey all of Sallisaw, OK. Karleen and Andrew Cox and their daughter, Madison all of Camp Lejeune, NC. Along with six great-grandsons, Robert, Tyler, Seth, Brent, Darren and Collin. His Brothers and sisters in law, Curtis and Lois Risley, Jimmy Don and Lena Fern Risley and Wanda Risley all of Vian, OK.
