Gladys Farrell Riggs

LOGAN-Gladys Farrell Riggs, 80, passed away Friday, August 17, 2007 at Logan Regional Hospital, of complications following a stroke.
She was born August 4, 1927, in Smithfield, Utah, to Marion Lyman and Dionetia Mortensen Farrell. Her mother died while she was a young child and her father died trying to save another man’s life when she was 14. She grew up during the years of the Great Depression and WWII in the family home in Smithfield under the care of her Grandmother Mortensen, her aunts Gertrude and Eva Bentley, and her older brother, Ardith, and older sister, Loa. She graduated from North Cache High School in 1945, attended Utah State University for one year, later moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, where she lived in the historic Beehive House. She married A. LaVern Riggs of Nibley, Utah, in the Logan Temple in December of 1948.
She was a very gifted, creative person who loved to sing, dance, and paint. She was in her youth a member of a well-known local singing group, the Glamars, and had later been accepted to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, though wedding plans interrupted her joining. She and her husband were well known for their energetic, traveling dance moves in the dance halls of that time. She worked hard with her husband, side by side on the family farm where they raised their children. All through their 58 years together they were creating beautiful things, combining both their creative skills. She loved her gardens where food for her family and neighbors was produced and grew incredible flowers all around the yard. She was an excellent cook and became known for her classy hand-decorated wedding cakes, and her painted pies, which she baked from scratch then painted with detailed illustrations and poems as gifts to family and friends in need. She created many beautiful quilts and other stitchery. She painted on everything from easter eggs to Pringles cans, her husbands whitlings and plates to oil landscapes and portraits. She never stopped singing, never stopped laughing, and always taught by example the highest principles of life to her children and grandchildren, 4-H-ers, primary and Sunday School children. She was forever and always gracious, kind and loving to everyone she met, everyone she knew. She was one tough, resilient, inspiring, beautiful and very fine lady who never, never gave up.
Survived by her sweetheart, A. LaVern Riggs; four children: John A. (Ruth) of Nibley,Utah, Peter F. of Nibley,Utah, Emalee (Steven) of Tremonton, Utah, and Robert (Tresa) of Nibley, Utah; twelve grandchildren and two sisters: Doris (Mac) of Randall, Wa., and Eva Dee (Steve) of Lake Tahoe, NV. She is preceded in death by sister Loa (Allan) of Smithfield, Utah, brother Ardith (Rula) of Smithfield, and one infant daughter.
A graveside service will be held at Millville-Nibley cemetery in Millville, Utah at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, August 22, 2007. A viewing will be held at the Allen-Hall Mortuary in Logan, Utah from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM that morning. A gathering of Remembrance honoring her will be held at the family home in Nibley, Utah, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm that afternoon. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.allenmortuaries.net