Mourners at funeral of former Downlands College student Riley Wilson

More than 300 friends and family have paid tribute and farewelled Nanango ‘larrikin’ Riley Wilson after the beloved former Downlands College student’s death in a car crash.

A loveable larrikin with the “cheekiest smile” is how more than 300 family, friends and community members have remembered 21-year-old Riley Wilson at a touching and tearful funeral on Friday afternoon.

Hundreds of mourners gathered on a hillside at the Schloss family farm, 10km south of Nanango, to farewell the beloved former Downlands College student who was tragically killed in a car crash on September 30.

For almost two hours the people who had known and loved Riley opened up about their memories of the young man, known for his love of family, friends, pigging loud music and a cold beer.

Riley’s casket, adorned with written messages of love, arrived at the service carried on the back of a flat-bed ute accompanied by his loved ones.

Parents Tom and Chaseley were the first to pay tribute to the popular young man.

Riley Wilson’s casket was carried to the service on the back of a flat-bed ute ridden by his family and friends. The casket was inscribed with comments from his loved ones.

Chaseley, whose touching words were read to those gathered by her friend Ellise, said her son was “the definition of love” who would “light up a room with his smile” and his “infectious jokes”.

“Your absence leaves such a crater in my heart,” she said.

His father told the mourners the house was “silent now without your cheerful voice” and “our life feels less colourful without you”.

More than 300 friends and family have paid tribute and farewelled Nanango ‘larrikin’ Riley Wilson after the beloved former Downlands College student’s death in a car crash. Picture Facebook

They were followed by Riley’s brothers, sisters, cousins, schoolmates, friends from Nanango, Toowoomba, and colleagues from Astill’s Electrical who paid tribute to the extraordinary impact their “true mate” had on their lives.

His boss at the company said Riley had two work vans, with the first rolling down a hill and through a person’s fence.

Mourners paid tribute to Riley Wilson and his love of friends, family, pigging, and cold beer throughout the two-hour-long service.

The second had been marked with “wolverine claws” ostensibly as the result of backing into another ute.

Riley’s boss said it was only later he discovered the ute in question had in reality been a tree.

Similar stories emerged from his friends.

Mourners were encouraged to drink a cold beer for Riley during the service, with the empties being lined up on his casket to join him when he was laid to rest.

On a recent trip to the State of Origin in Brisbane, mourners were told, Riley had shown up in a Queensland Reds rugby union jersey and, having booked his ticket too late to be seated next to his mates, instead spent the game sitting on their laps.

An hour into the service mourners were encouraged to have one of the cold beers on hand “for Riley”.

The empties were then lined up on his casket to join him when he was finally laid to rest as those gathered sang along to John Williamson’s True Blue.

Originally published as Mourners at funeral of former Downlands College student Riley Wilson