Mary Elaine Tanner Riggs

Funeral services will be held Saturday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church, Crowley for Mary Elaine Tanner Riggs, 98, who died Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, at 12:35 p.m. at Southwind Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Rev. Wayne Squyres will officiate for the services.
The family requests visiting hours from 10 a.m. to service time at First Baptist Church, 228 E. Fourth St., Crowley.
Burial will be in Woodlawn Mausoleum.
In a Sunday, June 22, 1969, Crowley Post Herald, Mrs. Riggs was featured in “Portrait of A Lady.”
The former Elaine Tanner, daughter of Mrs. Morris Tanner and the late Mr. Tanner, is a native of Crowley and a graduate of Crowley High School.
In 1939, Elaine started college, but quit to become Mrs. Gene Riggs. Shortly after her second daughter was born, Mr. Riggs left to go into the service.
No sooner had he gotten overseas when he was shot, making him completely paralyzed from the waist down. “I nursed him for a number of years. While recuperating, we would go fishing from the bank of the Mermentau River, just as something to do. When we really got interested in fishing, we bought better equipment and a boat. Soon he was able to buy out a sporting goods store in Crowley.
“All this time, he was disabled, but as the years went by, he got better and stronger and his business built up. Now he’s in full-time business, in fact, he’s retiring next month,” said Mrs. Riggs.
“While my children where in school, I was always a room mother for one or the other and sometimes both; and I did some substituting at South Crowley for Mr. Zock and I liked it a whole lot. I just love children and enjoy teaching, so after we had seen our children through school and college and my ‘baby’ got her masters, I went back to college. Since I liked to teach so much, I thought I’d just go on and become completely qualified. I’m now a junior at USL, starting from a freshman again. I have a couple more years to go, but I’ll take it easy.”
A few years ago, Mrs. Riggs was all alone all day, with her husband working and children going to school. She decided to work to fill in the time. “I walked in Bilbo’s Pharmacy and said, ‘Lee, could I go to work for you?’ and he said yes, so I got behind the counter. Then I had to have surgery and didn’t go back. I worked at Sears for a while and got sick again.
“While recuperating, a friend of mine told me she had the ‘cutest little job’: she was a switchboard operator at the hospital. So, I decided that I wanted to do that too, so I applied for the job and was hired. Mr. Breaux, the administrator, interviewed and hired me.”
Shortly after Mrs. Riggs was hired, the billing clerk left the business office and recommended her for the job. “I didn’t even know how to read an insurance policy or type. So, I got a typing book and I learned to type. In the two weeks before she left, she taught me how to read insurance policies and showed me the prices of drugs, operations and such. I stayed there five years in the business office and enjoyed it so much. That was the best job I ever had an I had wonderful people to work for and work with.
“I wouldn’t mind going back other than I want to finish my education. When my little granddaughter, Gay, was born, I quit because I couldn’t stand having a baby at home and not being there to play with it. I couldn’t keep my mind on my work. So, I made them move in with me. I’m not domineering or possessive, but I love my family and I wanted them home. When Diane went back to teaching, I had my heart’s desire; I had that baby all day long to myself.”
When her grandson, “Beau” was born, the Gueringers moved next to “grandmother.” “The grandchildren are here most all the time, even the dog doesn’t know where he lives.”
When Mr. Breaux left the hospital, The Blue Cross Insurance Agency was turned over to Mrs. Riggs. She kept it for quite a few years, then turned it over to a friend when she started school.
Mrs. Riggs sews for her children and grandchildren. Diane designs what she wants, and her mother makes it. “I love to sew things for my family and other people but not for myself.”
Another enjoyment of the Riggs family is playing bridge. “We have a weekly bridge game with a couple that’s been going on for years. Ever since we first learned. They come over every week.”
“I used to bowl, in the ladies’ morning league. I acquired quite a few trophies there, not because I was so good, but as a member of a team.”
Since starting school, Mrs. Riggs has given up her flower garden, but does have a tomato plant – one tomato plant – which is bearing tomatoes. “It must mean I have a green thumb. I used to plant everything around here. My husband thinks it looks like a jungle.
“I don’t belong to clubs or anything because I like to stay home with my husband. I don’t leave him very much, just whatever he likes to do, we do. We’ve bought a pool table and have been playing pool, as a home recreation.
“Besides just being a homemaker, I enjoy my family. We really don’t have to have anybody else, we just enjoy each other’s company, especially since my daughter moved next door. We’re always trying something in the line of interior decoration and my son-in-law has a big garden which we’re interested in. My husband has one day off a week and he likes to work in the yard, so we all pitch in.”
“You know, if someone would ask me if I had a full life, I would say, ‘Oh yes. I’m busy every minute. The reason is because If I don’t have anything else to do, I study ahead. I have to compete against all those young brains. I’m busy every minute of the day, but when I have to stop and tell somebody about it, it doesn’t sound like much, but I do enjoy what I do. You have to enjoy what you do – to be happy and satisfied.”
She especially enjoys babysitting, well not sitting, but playing. While babysitting, Mrs. Riggs will take the children riding and shopping and doing things together.
On Sundays, Mr. and Mrs. Riggs take their mothers for car rides. Sometimes their rides become quite extensive, as last Sunday’s ride took them to Toledo Bend and to Orange, Texas, where they had supper and returned. “I think from now on we’ll take them just anywhere they want to go on Sunday’s because we like to ride, and they do too.”
I lead a real full life. I babysit a lot, that’s a big part of my life, but it’s not a chore for me because I enjoy the grandchildren. Every afternoon, we go bike riding – I’ve got to keep my girlish figure, ha ha. And too, one of my psychology teachers said that the way to make A’s was to do a lot of bike riding to activate the brain. So, I have a double purpose there.
“We’ve traveled quite a bit. That may seem out of the ordinary for a man in a wheelchair, but he has his own hand control in both cars. When the children were little, we took them all over the country that would be interesting and educational. Last summer we went to Canada by way of California, where we visited friends in Los Angeles. It was beautiful. Gene did most of the driving, because I really don’t like to drive, I like to just sit back and look.”
She is a member of the First Baptist Church and was Sunday School secretary for many years.
“I’m going to school mainly because I love to go. I was always reading and working crossword puzzles or doing some kind of reading. When my niece suggested I go back to school I thought I would be rusty after so many years out of school. So, I went and took two subjects and made B’s in both. I found out I wasn’t so rusty and started full-time. I’ve had to stay out for three semesters due to illness. It sounds like I’m sick a lot, but I’m not, this is only through the years.”
School opened a new life for her, being around young students so much. “It almost makes me forget my age.”
Mrs. Riggs is survived by two daughters, Diane Riggs Wilson and husband Dan of Mattawa, Ontario, Canada, and Sharon Riggs Hartwell and husband Lee Earl of Crowley; three grandchildren, Gay Gueringer of San Antonio, Texas, Heather Hartwell Domingue of Crowley and Slade Hartwell and wife Elena of Freiburg, Germany; and six great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Gene M. Riggs; grandson, Bo Gueringer; two sisters, Eunice T. Barnett and Irene T. Wright; and three brothers, Benny, Leroy and Jack Tanner.
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial contributions be made to, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TX 38105-9959.
Words of comfort may be sent to the family at www.geesey-ferguson.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Geesey-Ferguson Funeral Home, 301 N. Avenue F, Crowley, 337-783-3313.