Ricky Riggins:
CLASS OF 1972
Nordhoff High SchoolClass of 1972
Ojai, CA
Spring Arbor UniversityClass of 2007
Spring arbor, MI
Ricky's Story
Much has happened to me since graduating from our great school of Nordhoff in 1972 and each of you whether you realize it or not some of you made some type of impact on me in some small way, and I thank each of you for that. I went to Viet Nam the following summer after graduating, initially got married and lived in Ventura, Santa Paula, El Rio, San Diego, Los Alamitos, Long Beach, Sasebo Japan, Ft. Myers Va., and Bethesda Md. during my career, (I found and lost love a couple of times) before finally finding the wife God meant for me to have. God has certainly blessed my life and has allowed me to endure an arduous yet prosperous and memorable 25 year Naval career in which I was able to see and do things I would have never have been able to in another career path, but with it came hardships too painful to share and joys too countless to put into words as I counseled and worked beside some of the finest men and women this country has ever produced and I had the privilege to know. Suffice it to say I am a better man for the life experiences and having done it with the knowledge that I could not have done it without God by my side directing my every step. Since leaving the military I have been able to settle down and I have taken that life learning experience and have channeled it back into my educational goals and achieved my Bachelors in Family Life Education/Family Studies CFLE (Social Work Degree), Masters in Counseling MAC, have become a Pastor whose ministry is to help those people who are less fortunate. I try to concentrate any remaining free time alone in the confines of any beautiful river or stream fly fishing in God's Sanctuary, just taking in all the wonders of nature that God has placed there, and I try to be a good steward of what God has given to me, which at this time is difficult sue to complications from a knee replacement in 2012. Currently I am trying to be a retired pastor if there is such a thing I guess, and have retired from a postal career. My full time occupation now has become grandpa a great grandpa and at last report I had 19 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren that number seems to be changing again and soon I will add one more making it 20 grand children (which seem to be a full time job with shift work!) This year has been one of fulfilment as 17 1/2 years ago one of my grandchildren was ripped away from us and had disappeared without a trace by his mom unt...Expand for more
il this past January when he called me and wanted to know about the family he'd really never known since being taken at age 2 1/2 years old, so we spent countless hours on the phone and his last call informed me he would be landing at the local airport and wanted to stay with me for a while to get acquainted, that little while turned into six (6) months before he headed out to stay with his father. This was and has been an answer to prayer and years of endless searching and now this one has a happy ending.
God is good!! Well, even after having had a life changing surgery where they replaced my knee and made it bionic but I came away with complications that caused a separate emergency surgery for which I am thankful to be still here updating this story to each of you at the moment. My love of God and being in nature are my obsessions or passions as I like to think of them, but God is always first in my life, and to me the biggest and best Church or Sanctuary I could ever be in or attend would be in God's great outdoors and all its magnificence.
If I won $100 million dollars, I would give 15%to 20% of it to my church, and then spend the rest on my family, ministry, and charity because if I were called home tomorrow I certainly wouldn't be able to take it with me. Currently my age is now 61 with 62 closer than I'd like it to be (holding at 29), and I think I will try and hold it there for a while. When I was 12, I thought that people my age now would be retired and living out there dreams. I was so completely and utterly wrong since most are still working and recently read that a dear woman retired from Macy's at the young age of 92! My two best friends in the whole world would probably tell you I'm quiet and maybe somewhat reserved, but people who don't know me very well would probably describe me as stuck up.
I have a lot of trophies from coaching AYSO Soccer and Little League Baseball. Most are first place or All Star Championships, but we were humble and the kids worked hard at learning many life lessons like being a winner over winning the game, and as a result they turned into fine young men and women. Oh, and we had some 2nd place trophies as well during that time too. It's not how you start you know it's how you finish that matters in life so look to finish strong. As we grow older maturing is humbling, but humble maturity is LIFE CHANGING!!! Blessings to you all and stay healthy.
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