Today as we have come together to remember William Ralph Riggs and say our final goodbyes. I look at the task that has been presented me to try and express to all of you my love, my memories and my thoughts about William Ralph Riggs, my Father. I wonder how I can accurately and adequately share with you these things when time and memory is less than sufficient and also with my inability to express myself without falling apart emotionally, it is a challenge.
I would love to spend all my time telling you story after story about my Dad, but I believe I can give you a better look at him with just words, words that describe his character more than any story I could tell. Each word having a multitude of stories behind their meaning... I may briefly share a few details or stories along the way.
The first word to describe him is SON, he was the youngest son of James Orlas and Estella Riggs. 2nd is BROTHER, to his 4 older brothers and one sister. Being the youngest, but the first to pass away, I have to tell his brothers and sister that he looked up to you, admired you and wanted to be like you, especially his brother Duard who was just older than him. I believe also that he gained a great respect for women and honored them because of his Mother and Sister.
3rd word is FRIEND, 4th MISSIONARY, 5th, 6th, 7th, UNCLE, HUSBAND, FATHER, 8th is GRANDFATHER. He was also HUMBLE, HONEST, full of INTEGRITY. He was hard working, ever learning, teachable and an able teacher. One of the most well known words that has been used to describe him besides Dad and Grandpa is COACH. He loved coaching basketball and he loved his ballplayers. He was SARCASTIC, FUNNY, CHARMING and always ENTERTAINING. He never lost his humor even at his very worst times.
Now if your beginning to wonder if I've been looking through rose colored glasses when analyzing my Dad's life, I'm not, I know he was IMPERFECT. I thank God for that, because perfection is too difficult to live up to... only one person that has ever walked this earth has accomplished perfection.
Dad was also SPIRITUAL, WISE and a DREAMER. It didn't matter if all of his dreams came to be, but that he kept dreaming, no matter what or who discouraged him. He was THOUGHTFUL, CARING and STUBBORN, ENCOURAGING and an avid HUNTER and often very SPONTANEOUS.
There are so many more words that could describe my Father with many more stories behind them, but I wish only to share with you 2 more details. First, my Father along time ago decided he didn't ever want his children to feel that they had to compete with one another to be the most loved or favored child in the family and he also decided he wanted his children to know they were loved by him rather than have them wonder all their lives. He told us everyday he loved us and his actions told us that as well. He was always there for us in anything we did, anything we were in pain over, he was there even when our parents divorced, we were mostly raised but, he came, he saw and he supported us in everything, no matter what. I know my Father has left his mark on all of us and everyone he has met has been better because of it. I'm telling you right now, he did make a difference in his lifetime.
His son Bill has his Dad's sarcasm, charm, integrity and fierce love for his wife and children, his five daughters. Allen has Dad's sarcasm, thoughtfulness, humor, intense love for his wife and family and he truly cares about other human beings. We all have been given a true testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ like our Dad had and much, much more.
As for his daughter, she gets choked up at a drop of a hat, like her Dad. She is sarcastic and kind of funny. She has a true desire to have a family that she can love as much as her Father did with his and last but not least, she has her Daddy's hands... let me explain. When I was young I use to love to play with my Dad's hands during church. I would trace them over and over and flip them from top to bottom measuring my hands to his. I would trace the lines inside his palm and I noticed that our lines were almost identical.
I loved my Daddy's hands and for the first time in my Dad's life, in the last months of his life his hands were soft, there were no more callouses. I told him the day before he died that he had to solve that problem of having no callouses. "You have to start working in the garden and building my mansion on the other side so that I can recognize you by your hands when I meet you there."
I hope my Father will be pleased with what I do with these hands he gave me. I hope to make them as gentle, strong, calloused and supportive as my Father made his. I would like to dedicate the song "Daddy's Hands" to my Dad. This is a song that expresses my love for the man I call Dad.
