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Cecil Riggs

AFRH-G Resident Highlight - Cecil E. Riggs

Cecil E. Riggs was born in West Virginia in 1936. He was one of seven children raised in a small community of about 35 families. His father, a foreman in a street car shop, and one other man were the only guys in the community that had occupations other than coal miner. As Cecil got older, he understood he did not want to be a coal miner or railroader and also knew that there were not many job opportunities in the area. One day he and a buddy saw the infamous Uncle Sam “We Want You” poster and they both made the decision to join the military. In 1954, Cecil and his buddy joined the Air Force. They headed off for basic training together but never saw each other again. 

Cecil had always dreamed of visiting Washington State, Australia, and Germany. When he received his first orders for Spokane, Washington he was a happy man. He began on-the-job training in fire service. About four months later, he was joyful again after getting orders for another destination on his bucket list, Germany. Cecil reenlisted in the Air Force several times staying in the fire service field. He retired with 20 years of service right before he was about to get sent to Vietnam.

While in the military, Cecil had married and had two sons, Bruce and Douglas. He had also started up two businesses in the fire and burglary alarm industry, in addition to dabbling in construction. After retirement he continued to work with these businesses until about a year later when he decided to begin his civil service career as a firefighter. He worked another 20 years in fire service before retiring with a total of 40 years of firefighting working his way up the ladder to every firefighter rank including captain and chief.

After retirement, he decided to do a little more construction work before he and his second wife, Faith, bought a motor home to travel the country. In 2017, Faith passed away. About a year after losing his beloved wife, Cecil moved to AFRH-G where he has been living in “paradise.” He loves the fact that he does not have to cook and has no bills. He has found the silver lining to living in the Home, even during the pandemic. In his spare time, he writes books. Cecil is currently authoring on a six-volume work called What Lies beyond the Clock of Time, which is currently 3,700 pages. He’s already written other books entitled:  Starting over Again, Retirement Life, Haunted House and Other Halloween Tricks, Green Acres, Self-Sermon to Happiness, and My Roommate. He also has other works in the process. When he is not writing, he likes to keep himself busy. His most recent escapade was a trip to Walmart where he discovered how expensive groceries have gotten! He was also very pleased to finally make a trip to visit his wife’s grave.

Cecil has not had the opportunity to travel to Australia (yet!).