Shizue Jo Yahiro Riding

1931 — 2021

Shizue Jo Yahiro Riding, 90, passed away December 21, 2021 at the Davis Hospital and Medical Center. She was born on May 13, 1931 in Kagi City, Taiwan, the daughter of Torajiro Naono and Tsutako Yahiro. Jo was educated in Japan. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a young woman, Jo was an accountant for Shiseido in Japan. She enjoyed the work, but the long commute by train was often difficult. Eventually, her dreams of life in the big city took her to Fukuoka, Japan, where she found work with her friends on the Itazuke Air Base. It was during this time that she would meet the love of her life.

She met Millard Edwin “Ed” Riding by chance when she went dancing with her girlfriends. She almost didn’t go that evening but was glad she did. She was sitting with her girlfriends and this nice-looking GI approached them and asked her to dance. They danced the rest of that evening. She said that he was so kind and unlike anyone else she had met. They were married the next year on July 21, 1958 at the Itazuke Air Base in Fukuoka, Japan. Three days later, they celebrated their marriage with their friends at the local church. They were later sealed in the Ogden Temple on April 20, 1974 in Ogden, Utah. Ed would often say that he loved her so much he married her over and over again. When Ed left the military, she accompanied him back to the United States, ending up in Ogden, Utah in 1959. They lived in the same house since 1961, where they created a loving home for them and their two children.

Jo wasn’t content staying home and had a strong work ethic. She worked at the Utah Noodle Parlor, in Ogden, Utah for about forty years. She enjoyed interacting with the customers and made lifelong friends while there. She tried to retire, but that didn’t last long. So, she worked for a couple of other restaurants in the Ogden area before she finally retired due to health reasons.

There were many things that brought joy to her life. In addition to her family, she enjoyed traveling, but was always glad to return home to her place and her little dog. She also loved to bowl and bowled in numerous bowling leagues for many decades in the Ogden area and competed in the Japanese American National Bowling Association (JANBA) tournaments. The bowling tournaments took her to many bowling alleys in Utah, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Hawaii. At home, she enjoyed quiet hobbies like sewing, origami, and bunka embroidery. Her home was filled with needlework that she and Ed created. She also enjoyed not so quiet things, like watching and loudly cheering during a Utah Jazz basketball game or an exciting sumo wrestling match. She also loved to keep abreast about what was happening back in Japan. She had her schedule of shows she would watch. She enjoyed watching variety shows, concerts, current events, talk shows, and soap operas. Her family knew when they heard Japanese programming playing on the television, she wasn’t to be interrupted.

Jo is survived by her son, David Yahiro Riding; daughter, Debra Jo Riding La Grone and her husband, Bradley; brothers-in-law, Donald J. Riding and wife, Pamela, and Reed H. Riding; grandchildren, Andrew Riding and partner, Lisa Baggerly; Claire Lindstrom and husband, Curtis; Ashleigh McClellan and husband, Zachary; J. Patrick La Grone, and Zachary La Grone; great-grandchildren, Dea Lindstrom, Meredith Lindstrom, Gideon Lindstrom, Kymber La Grone, Clayton McClellan, and Gunner McClellan, and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins, other relatives, and many friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Millard Edwin “Ed” Riding, her parents, sister who was adopted by a loving family as a child and half-brother, Akeio, and sister-in-law, Nancy.

Jo’s family would like to thank the staff of Community Nursing Services and Davis Hospital and Medical Center for the excellent care for Jo and her family during her last days.

Per Jo’s request, there will be no services at this time; a memorial service for Jo, and her husband, Ed, will be held in the summer of 2022 in Ogden, Utah. Their ashes will be interred in Deadwood, Texas following their memorial service. Their children will provide information about their memorial service via social media.

Memorial donations may be made to the Deadwood Cemetery Association, c/o Brad La Grone, P.O. Box 809, Carthage, TX 75633.

Arrangements entrusted to Myers Mortuary, 845 Washington Blvd., Ogden, UT

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.myers-mortuary.com