November 20, 2025
A Tribute to Yolanda “Yoggi” Riley (July 1946-August 2025)
(This article appeared in the November/December 2025 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)
Yoggi Riley was a leader, mentor, and fighter on behalf of postal workers for almost 60 years. In September 1967, Yoggi began working as a special delivery messenger at the Post Office. Yoggi held numerous positions in her local. Her leadership was tested in the mid 1990s when management attempted to change the craft of special delivery messengers and deprive messengers of their right to be represented by the APWU. During this crisis, she sprang into action, helped confront management, and enlisted the support of the national union. The national union reached an agreement with management that all messengers would remain in their union of choice. This was a great victory for postal workers.
Shortly after this big win, Yoggi started working with the Retirees Department to conduct retirement seminars and help workers prepare for retirement. This was almost 10 years before she retired.
Yoggi was also devoted to her family – she was a wife, mother, and grandmother. The time and energy she gave to coaching children’s baseball and t-ball was so well known that the community renamed the playing field across from her home after her. Her retirement from the USPS was recognized in “A Tribute to Yoggi Riley” by former House Representative Howard Berman (CA-28), which was published in the Congressional Record during his time in office on Feb. 14, 2006. Representative Berman asked his colleagues in the House to join him in saluting Yoggi Riley, congratulating her on her retirement, and wishing her success in all her future endeavors.
Yoggi expanded her activism in 2001 by joining the National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) association as an active employee and a member of the San Fernando Valley-Van Nuys Chapter. Later, she also served as Secretary at the Federation of Retired Union Members (FORUM), which is a part of the AFL-CIO Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and was an active member of the California Alliance of Retired Americans.
After over 25 years, the APWU Retirees Department salutes Yoggi Riley for her years of service to the APWU Retirees Department as a retirement planning instructor, counselor, and advisor to thousands of postal and federal employees; she had direct contact with APWU members from coast to coast. In retirement, she not only served the APWU as part of the Retirees Department, but she also remained active in her local. Yoggi help to form the SFVAL Golden Oldies Retiree Chapter, serving as its president since it was chartered in August 2012.
In addition, she held the elected position of Secretary- Treasurer in the local; her most recent position in the local was as the Legislative Director which afforded her the opportunity to stay active and focused on fighting for retirees’ and workers’ rights as well as to regularly write a column “Old Reasoning” in the local’s newspaper.
Yoggi’s plate was more than full. During the last retirement seminar held on Zoom on Aug. 16, 2025, Yoggi participated and shared her closing words, “Lastly, do not live your life for retirement; retirement is just another stage of life that we can all look forward to!”
When I think of Yoggi, I am reminded of the lyrics to this song: “If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, If I can show somebody that they are traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain!”
The family requests that if you wish to make any donation, please make it in honor of Yolanda Riley at: ranchosanantonio.org/?form=FUNAEWWGEVM. ■
