Richard Lee Riggs

This is about our dad, Richard L Riggs who passed away on Sunday September 27th. Our dad was a husband to mom for 66 years, a dad to a daughter and 2 sons, a grandpa/great grandpa to 11 grandkids, uncle, cousin a friend, as he never met a stranger; he was a friend to all.
The defining factors about our dad was his family, his faith, and his commitment to simply be a good man. Dad had a keen sense of humor, always playing jokes on others with a gleam in his eye. Words to describe our dad would be, strong, loving, safe, friend, stalworth, in short he was the patriarch of the family.
Dad was born in Chadron, Nebraska on March 23rd, 1931 and passed on September 27th, 2020 at home in Caldwell, Idaho. He grew up on a farm, went to George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon, and during the Korean war he was drafted and served for two years as a medic. He was offered a career in the military, but as he told us, your mom was back home and he wanted to come home.
He married the love of his life, Virginia and they were married for 66 years. In the early part of their marriage and life, they lived in Jerome, Idaho and had their first child, a daughter named, Shauna. From there they went to Sidney Montana, where dad worked as a shoe salesman and true to his entrepreneur spirit, he had a side business where he dyed women’s shoes to match their purses. It was in the 10 years they lived in Sidney they had two sons. Len and Lonnie.
While in Sidney dad was active as a sports referee, played semi pro baseball, active in his church and sang in the musical group the Bob Johnson Singers. Which was natural as he always had a love for music and was more than happy to bust out a tune if asked, and he was asked by many churches to be their guest vocalist. During their time in Sidney, dad returned to one of his loves,” playing in the dirt.” He purchased 160 acres and farmed wheat. In Montana, he also began a new career of selling insurance, which led to his and mom’s move to Weiser, Idaho where they lived for many years, not only leading him to years of selling insurance, but also buying a dairy, a restaurant and then back to a big love of his life; playing in the dirt. He started a landscaping business which soon gave way to Dad and his son Lonnie starting, Laser Land Leveling, where after 40 years is one of the largest civil constructive businesses in Treasure Valley. Somewhere along the line, he found time to coach little league football, to which many of his former ball players still called him coach. A major blessing was when Leonard Patton came into the family.
Dad was a teacher and a learner, not only hands on, but teaching through his actions alone, he made a lasting impact on those he interacted with. Dad lived a full life, a good life and at times a hard life. He lost a grandson, different businesses that didn’t work as planned, but he never, ever, gave up. Failure was simply not an option. Dad persevered through every trial and tribulation as well as every triumph with the same attitude and smile on his face. He will be missed.
Richard is survived by his wife, Virginia Riggs, daughter Shauna Dickson (Tom) son, Len Riggs (Tammy) son Lonnie Riggs (Noreen) son Leonard Patton (Jennie). Numerous grandkids and other family members.

Viewing hours will be between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 5, 2020 at Dakan Funeral Chapel. Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at Friends Church in Greenleaf with Graveside services following at greenleaf cemetery.

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