Willie Egene Riley

Willie Egene Riley was a Florida horseman best known for spending decades working on and managing Bonnie Heath Farm, a historic Thoroughbred breeding and training operation in Ocala, Florida. He died on September 19, 2026, at the age of 88.

Riley was born in 1938 in Parkin, Arkansas, and made his way to Marion County, Florida, where the Thoroughbred industry was taking root in the mid twentieth century. According to his family's obituary, he spent many years working on and managing Bonnie Heath Farm, one of the operations that helped establish Ocala as a center of American horse breeding. He also pursued his own interest in the sport, breeding and racing Thoroughbreds of his own rather than only tending to other owners' horses.

Away from the farm, those who knew him described a man whose life was full outside of work. He kept a home that, according to his family, became a haven for orphaned wildlife, including raccoons, squirrels, skunks, opossums and monkeys, alongside the family's dogs and barn cats. He was also a musician in his own right, known among his children for a strong singing voice and for playing guitar, with family evenings around a campfire singing old country songs remembered as some of their most treasured memories together.

Riley's life was shaped by both loss and family. He was preceded in death by his wife, Sue, by an infant son named Rocky, and by several of his brothers. He is survived by his three children, Roxie Inkell, Chris Riley and Sherri Bryson, along with six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

He died on September 19, 2026, at 6:30 in the morning, as announced in an obituary published by Hiers Baxley Funeral Services of Ocala. No cause of death has been made public. Tributes so far have come from within his own family, who remembered him as a hardworking man who found joy in the land, the animals around him, and the life he built on the farm.