John Thomas Rigden |
| Posted 2018-07-25 by Pat R |
| Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Thursday, March 24, 2005, p. B11 John Thomas (Tom) Rigden passed away at Prescott Samaritan Village nursing home on March 20, 2005. He was born on the Rigden Ranch in Kirkland, Arizona on August 13, 1911 to pioneer rancher, Charles Lewis Rigden, and schoolteacher, Ada Belle Eldred Rigden. He attended Kirkland Elementary School and Prescott High School, graduating in 1928. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in Range Ecology in 1935. Tom married Margaret Kester Hays, daughter of neighboring ranchers Roy and Hazel Hays of Peeples Valley, in 1938. Following his graduation from the U of A, he worked for the Soil Conservation Service in Gallup, New Mexico counting livestock on the Navajo reservation. He became Livestock Specialist for the U of A in 1938. Tom returned to ranching in 1943, operating the Hays Ranch for his father-in-law. In 1955, following the death of his father, he moved back to the family ranch in Kirkland. In addition to running the Rigden Ranch, he was a ranch appraiser for the Federal Land Bank of Berkeley. Tom was a member of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, past president of the Yavapai Cattle Growers, past state president of the Range Management Society, member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Prescott. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; children, Charles Rigden, and wife Gail, of Anchorage, Alaska, Cynthia Rigden of Kirkland, and Anna Mary Glaab of Peeples Valley; grandsons, Charles Thomas (Tom) Rigden and Rigden Glaab; and sister, Elizabeth Wilson of Stamford, CT. Private cremation. A family gathering will be held at a later date. Az. Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home assisting the family. See Also: Find A Grave |
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