Editor’s Note: The Annual Bridgeport High School Alumni & Friends Foundation, Inc.’s Hall of Fame Dinner will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2018 at the Bridgeport Conference Center. Social hour/reception will begin at 6:00 p.m. with the dinner program following at 7 p.m. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees are Alan Dye, Jane Conley Riley, Laura Stevens Aliff, and Norman Tolley (posthumously). Tickets are $30 and may be purchased HERE. Below is our first inductee, Jane Riley. 

 

Jane Riley is the daughter of the late Randolph and Miriam Wolfe Conley of Nutter Fort, West Virginia. By the age of 8, she had 4 brothers: John, Mike, Rusty, and Pete. When she was a freshman in High School her sister Caroline was born.

 

Jane was educated in the Bridgeport school system having graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1967. She attended Alderson Broaddus College where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Secondary Education. Later, she attended West Virginia University earning a Master’s degree in Special Education. In 1981, she began her career as a Special Education teacher at Bridgeport High School where she taught for thirty-four years.

 

As a teacher, Jane always tried to inspire her students to rise above their challenges. She took great pleasure in seeing so many young men and women gain self-confidence and become successful in their lives. Her greatest reward as a teacher was not only seeing many students following graduation – but, having them remember her and thank her for the guidance she attempted to give them.

 

Besides her teaching duties, Jane was the Pep Club advisor for several years. For many years, she was in charge of setting up the hospitality room for coaches and WVSSAC officials at all Bridgeport home playoff football games. Jane also coached the BHS Cheerleaders for many years. During the span of 1990 to 2000, Jane lead the cheerleading squads to several Big 10 Championships; every regional title; and 3 state titles (2 in class AA and 1 in class AAA). Jane is a long-time member of Simpson Creek Baptist Church where she taught third grade Sunday School for many years and is member of the LBE Circle.

 

Jane and her husband, Bob, have 4 children: Rob and his wife, Holly; Betsy and husband, Dan; Bill and wife, Nicole; and Benji and his wife, Lyndsay. They are also proud grandparents of 7 grandchildren.