Bill Rigsby

1930 - 2017

Rigsby Bill Rigsby, age 86, passed away in his sleep on January 23, 2017, from a combination of ailments that one needed a medical degree to understand Bill understood. Bill was born William Carl Rigsby in Anderson, Indiana, on December 29, 1930. He was the product of good German stock (his father an engineer and his mother a teacher), which helped explain the degree of flexibility he often exhibited. Although born a Hoosier, he grew up a Buckeye when his father became the General Manager of the Warren, Ohio, plant of Packard. Bill spent many a day hanging out at the local YMCA, playing sports and discovering the marvels of the human body. In 1947, he set out to follow in his Father's footsteps by enrolling in engineering school at Purdue University. It was at Purdue where the footsteps ended. His interest in engineering gave way to interests in art, medicine, and knowledge for knowledge's sake in short, it was the beginning of Bill as the Renaissance man we all knew. Most of Bill's friends know that he was a cheerleader for the Purdue football team, but many don't know he parlayed those skills into a troupe of acrobats, which helped him put himself through college. In the end, he decided on medicine and to go back to Ohio, having been admitted to the Ohio State School of Medicine. Columbus was good to Bill. It gave him his degree in medicine (ObGyn) and the opportunity to partner with Dr. William Copeland senior and establish the longstanding Kingsdale Gynological Associates. It was also where Bill was introduced to Nancy Jean Allen from McConnellsville, Ohio. Bill and Nancy married quickly, started a family, and became part of Upper Arlington. When not in the delivery room, Bill was often painting, building furniture, or forever puzzled as to how the British could build an empire but not a reliable automobile (in reference to his beloved Austin Healy). But Bill was also good to Columbus. He brought thousands of babies into this world, taught hundreds of med students at OSU, and supported his son Kent in one restaurant that forever changed the landscape of Columbus. At the end of Bill's medical career, he and Nancy retired to Florida, but Bill discovered that he was allergic to madras sport coats, dining at 4:30, and social calendars. (Finding himself behind the wheel of a Miata instead of an English sports car might have been the last straw.) Lucky for Bill, northwest Wyoming had no such conventions, so he traded the Miata for a Land Rover and took Nancy to Jackson Hole: to the mountains, the trout streams, the wildlife, and to son Will (who would help break Bill of his Neapolitan habits). Once in the mountains, Bill's art flourished and he became a reliable fund-raiser for the National Museum of Wildlife Art. He also achieved marksman status with a slingshot, figuring it was the most humane way to keep the moose away from his aspen trees. The epic winters and health issues eventually brought Bill back to Columbus. Bill is survived by his wife of 60 years, Nancy Rigsby; son, Kent Rigsby (Tasi) and their children, Forbes, Robert, Eleni, and Zoe; daughter, Anne R. Louis (Steve) and their children, Hunter (Cari Murnane), Cydney Schaumburg (Bennett), and Callie Reinhardt (Eric); great grandchildren, Bridger and Maple Schaumburg; and son, William A. Rigsby (Leslie Mattson) and his children, Hannah and Olivia; and sister, Carole Darst (Dick). He is preceded in death by granddaughter Catherine Rose Rigsby. Contributions may be made to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation in Bill's name at PO Box 249, Moose, WY 83012. To share memories or condolences, please visit www.schoedinger.com. Arrangements entrusted to SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST CHAPEL.