Riata Remund

Riata Dawn Remund graduated from cosmetology school and purchased her first salon in her beloved hometown, Arnold, Nebraska, mere weeks before she passed at age 19. She was excited to start her new adventure as a hairstylist and business owner. Riata graduated from Arnold High School in 2025 with classmates she had known for her whole life in a town where people’s roots and love run deep. Riata loved her family profoundly and without reserve: her mother, Holly, brothers Tyler, Paul, and Rio and sister, Emily. Her father, Scott, passed four years before she did and the only consolation we have is that somehow, someway, somewhere, Scott and Riata are together again.

Soft but strong, Riata lived life bravely and sweetly. Every child she met melted for her and the community’s love for her is exemplified by her election as homecoming queen. Her entrepreneurial spirit was evident in her photography and hairstyling businesses, where she captured people’s special moments and created beauty wherever she went. Riata was quick and firm to stand up for what she believed in, and her strong personality can be seen in the amount she accomplished in her nineteen years: 4x one-act state champion, 1x state speech champion, and 4-H shooting sports national qualifier. The effect of her passing will be long grieved by her church family, her hometown, the greater Sandhills community, and loved ones in Nebraska, the US, and around the world. Everyone who met her loved her quickly and never stopped loving her.

Riata’s great gift was her willingness to serve others in everything she did. Whether babysitting her nieces and nephews, caring for her father as he fought cancer, ranching with her mother and brother, or supporting every friend in her community, Riata exhibited positive values with the maturity and self-assurance of people much older than she.

Organ donation was her final act of service but one that will live on past the too-short 19 years we got with Riata. We hope that anyone who receives Riata’s gifts feels the depth of our love for our Riata and exhibits the qualities that made Riata so special.

If you are not a Nebraska resident, click here to register with Donate Life America.