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In Memory

Adah Riggs (Riggs)

Adah Vee Riggs

Sept. 11, 1907--Aug. 16, 2005
 
SHENANDOAH, Iowa -- Adah Vee Riggs, 97, formerly of McCook, died Tuesday (Aug. 16, 2005) at Garden View Care Center in Shenandoah, Iowa.
 
She was born Sept. 11, 1907, in Bassett to Mark and Vera (Gorball) Howard. She grew up in Gordon, where her family moved soon after her birth.
 
After graduation from Gordon High School, Adah entered the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where she majored in education and was a member of Alpha Chi Omega social sorority. She received her degree in the spring of 1930 and married Edwin Harold Riggs in December. They moved to his hometown, Brewster, in the sand hills, where Adah taught a number of subjects in the high school. She always had a very special fondness for her friends and students from Brewster.
 
When her husband was drafted during World War II, Adah and her children went to live with her parents in Sidney, and, after the War, the family settled in McCook. Adah worked part-time as a bookkeeper for Jewell Wholesale Company before returning to her teaching career in 1955. She taught fifth grade at East Ward; English and Math at McCook Junior High; and high school typing at McCook Junior College.
 
After her retirement from teaching in 1974, Adah was very active in the community. She served as a Lay Reader at St. Alban's Episcopal Church as well as being active in Altar Guild and St. Anne's Guild. She worked at the pantry until she was in her nineties. She was also active in AAUW, Tri-T, Retired Teachers Association and Eastern Star. She especially enjoyed reading, gardening, sewing and crocheting. She played bridge with several groups as well as pinochle and dominoes.
 
Adah enjoyed living at Willow Ridge for the last ten years she was in McCook, but in January, 2003, she moved to Garden View Care Center in Shenandoah, Iowa, to be near her daughter.
 
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; and her sister, Audrey Thomas.
 
Survivors include her children and spouses: Ed Riggs and Pat Mackie of Boise, Idaho; Jim and E. Vee Myrberg of Shenandoah, Iowa; and Don and Laurie Riggs of Houston, Texas. Also surviving are nine grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and her older brother Don Howard of Ft. Collins, Colo.
 
Memorial services were held with interment at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell.
 
Her family suggests memorials in remembrance of Adah to St. Alban's Episcopal Church, the McCook Library Foundation or the McCook Education Foundation.
Hackett-Livingston Funeral Home in Shenandoah was in charge of arrangements, and remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.hackettlivingstonfuneralhome.com.

 
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04/19/10 07:41 AM #1    

Steve Batty (1965)

Mrs. Riggs was one of my favorite junior high teachers. She was fair and I have nothing but fond memories of her teaching me math. The one story that really sticks in my mind was when she caught Mary Jo and me chewing gum in study hall one afternoon. Mrs. Riggs told MJ and me to come to her home room after school and talk to her about our transgressions.

When MJ and I arrived after school Mrs. Riggs asked us point blank if we had been chewing gum. MJ said she had not and I said I had been. (MJ was the one who had given me the gum.) I was a little embarrassed but mostly I was disappointed in MJ for not telling the truth. Until that point in time I was always taught to put females on a pedestal because they were supposed to be special and better than boys. Because of that, I opened and held doors for them, walk on the street side and always let them go first. Boy did I have my eyes opened that day.  It’s amazing what we remember from our childhood.

Steve


07/01/10 07:56 PM #2    

Eleanor Riggs (Myrberg) (1961)

Steve:

Thanks for your kind words about my mother.  She truly did endeavor to be fair.  I wonder if she knew that your friend was not telling the truth?  One day I was with my mother when she encountered one of her ex-students.  The young lady said something along the lines of:  I'll never forget you, Mrs. Riggs, because of what you taught me.

I expected the young lady to talk about some kind of math.  Instead she said that what she remembered was my mother handing out a quiz that had these instructions at the top:  Write your name on your paper, and, when you have done that, turn your paper over on your desk and wait for further instructions.

Of course, as seventh graders are apt to do, nearly all of them launched right into completing the problems; but the lesson being taught and the lesson the young lady learned was that one should always read the instructions first.

That was the only time I ever heard that story, and I am still laughing about it.  It was soooo my mother MOD.

Looking forward to a fun weekend in McCook.

E. Vee Riggs Myrberg  '61

 


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