Brian David Rigell

Brian David Rigell was designated for final assignment on February 21, 2026. His passing is in part due to complications of life. Most of that life was regulated by Type 1 diabetes, which was diagnosed in the fall of 1970.

He was born to Eli and Sandra Worden in Baltimore, Maryland, in April 1961. He grew up with his mother until December 1968, when she passed away at an early age from cancer. His uncle Ralph Miller became his legal guardian and made arrangements for Brian to live with the Rigell family – Sid and Betsy and their sons – while Ralph was attending college. In 1974, Brian was legally adopted by the Rigell family and became another son – one of six, including his uncle Ralph, who had been given a home away from home by the family while he attended West Nottingham Academy in Maryland in the late 1950s.

Brian graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1979 and then moved to eastern Tennessee to attend and finally graduate from Maryville College in 1985.

After graduation, he began working in the local financial services industry in a bank operations center in Blount County, TN, and had more than a career there, staying on for over 26 years when his entire department was closed. He began second careers as a call center agent for a well-known military insurance company before moving on to postings in the healthcare industry and then landing back in the world of finance and accounting.

From his college graduation until 2016 (except for a two-year hiatus), he continued working with the Maryville College (MC) Athletic Department in a variety of roles – his longest tenure (26 of 35 years total, including undergrad) was as the game and shot clock operator for both of the basketball programs. From his start in 1979, Brian worked with the following programs: Men’s Basketball, and Women’s Volleyball, Basketball, and Softball. He also wrote for the school paper (sports and features), and even did a stint as part of the Sports Information Department. Some of the highlights of his “career” at MC include: travelling with the volleyball team for the national AIAW tournament held in Spokane, Washington (1980); being part of the officiating crew for the first ever NCAA D-3 national volleyball tournament which Maryville College hosted (1981); working an OVC Division 1 basketball post season conference tournament in Nashville, Tennessee; working for the NWBL a semi-pro women’s basketball league which had its Knoxville based team’s home court at Maryville College – Tennessee Fury; and numerous Division 3 men’s & women’s national basketball tournament games.

He is preceded in death by both parents who gave him life, his adoptive father and mother, and his uncle Ralph Miller of Baltimore, MD. He is survived by his Rigell brothers and their families: Craig & Ann of Knoxville, TN; Kirby & Carol of Inola, OK; Joe & Nancy of Memphis, TN; Chris and Juli of Maryville, TN. He also has special family in Baltimore, MD, with the Pace family: half-brother Garry and wife Pat and their three children and families.

He requests no services to be held, and any donations should be made to BreakthroughT1D.org (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund – JDRF) or to summer camp programs such as CampPossibilities.org or LionsCampMerrick.org. He wouldn’t have made it as far as he did without the Camp Glyndon Juvenile Diabetes Summer Camp program in Maryland. Donations may also be made to the American Kidney Fund, or your local ministry assisting the homeless and other street people.

He also gives thanks to the caring and kind people working at Dialysis Clinic Inc. of Maryville.

He leaves you with his final thoughts, first in the words of the great 20th-century20th century philosopher Briscoe Darling, “more power to you,” and lastly, a traditional Hawaiian goodbye - “a hui hou” for “until we meet again.”