'I've had a good life': Audrey Rigg looks forward to 100th birthday
PETOSKEY — As Petoskey’s Audrey Rigg approaches her 100th birthday on Sept. 2, she is looking back on a happy life full of family, fulfillment and fashion.
Audrey, whose maiden name is Fox, was born in 1922 in Petoskey in a two-story duplex on Mitchell Street where the Petoskey District Library now sits. Her parents later bought a house on Franklin Street where she lived as an only child until she graduated from Petoskey High School in 1940.
“My two old maid aunts came from Laura, Ohio, took a train up here to deliver me,” Audrey said. “So maybe that's what's wrong with me.”
Even as she approaches 100, Audrey’s humor and memory have not diminished. She recalls her senior year of high school when she won the “Fashion Plate Girl” yearbook award and came close to winning “Best Looking” as well.
“I was voted both and Helen LaFleur was too," she said. "So they had to take another vote and I came in as the Fashion Plate Girl.”
Fashion would remain an important part of Audrey’s life. Throughout high school she worked as a store clerk in the local JCPenney for 35 cents per hour and used each paycheck to buy more clothes.
“I just want to look nice for other people,” Audrey said. “It really gives you a good feeling. I always was dressed to go to work and that’s when you wore nylon hose.”
“She always dressed to the nines, as they say,” said Audrey’s son Tom Rigg. “She was very well dressed all the time.”
After graduating high school, Audrey married Richard Rigg in October 1940. They met at a restaurant called The Arcadia where the Circus Shop is now.
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At the time, Richard, who went by Dick, was co-owner of a mattress company but soon went to California for military training during World War II. He and Audrey had two sons, Eddie and John, who were cared for by their grandparents while Audrey and a friend drove to San Francisco to be with their husbands.
“We chose San Francisco because of Fisherman's Wharf, so we’d go down there for seafood,” Audrey said.
Audrey took another retail job and stayed in a cabin with another couple for more than three months until Dick’s training finished and he decided the military wasn’t for him. They made their way to Battle Creek, Michigan and from there, took a train to Petoskey.
After returning, Dick worked in auto garages and in 1945, the couple had their third son, Tom.
Audrey was a stay-at-home mom until her boys were older and then in the 1960s, the couple bought The Dollhouse, a children’s store that occupied part of the building where Meyer Ace Hardware is.
They owned the store for three years until 1966 when the couple made their way to Naples, Florida with their youngest son, James, who was 12 years old at the time.
Audrey stayed in Naples for 40 years where she raised her youngest son, played golf, bridge and took a job as a salesperson at Gattles selling home goods, where she worked for 19 years. She then worked for Bob Baker Shoes, and since both stores had locations in Northern Michigan, the family would spend the summers in Petoskey while Audrey worked in the Michigan stores.
In 2000, after 60 years of marriage, Dick passed away from cancer. Audrey stayed in Naples until 2007 when she moved back to Petoskey, now retired, and continued to enjoy her hobbies: golf, bridge and fashion.
Audrey credits her love of bridge for her good memory in her old age. She competed in tournaments before her eyes made it difficult to see the cards. Games were a big part of the Rigg’s household throughout the years and that love of games fostered more than a few competitive spirits.
“My dad, he'd like to tease people,” Tom said. “So I was down in Florida and playing gin rummy, which is a two-person (game). So I would be like the captain so one hand I’d play with mom and then one hand with dad and we’d just alternate and I creamed him. Finally, my dad says to my mother, ‘I told you we should have hit him over the head and sold the milk.’”
Despite working full time, Audrey always made time to do the things she enjoyed.
“Tuesday was my day for ladies’ day,” she said. “I’d get to the golf course at eight in the morning and play 18 holes, go in and have a cold beer and then sit and play bridge until maybe five to six at night. See, those were fun days when I was younger.”
Throughout their busy lives, Audrey and Dick made time to travel, visiting Hong Kong, England, Copenhagen, Germany and Paris. Now, Audrey looks back on those experiences and is grateful she spent her life doing what she enjoyed, had the opportunity to know her grandchildren and in January, will be a great-great grandmother.
“I think I’m a miracle,” Audrey said. “I really do. I've had a good life. When I was married, we didn't want for a roof over our heads, we didn't want for food. We weren't rich but we were all right.”
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Audrey Rigg looks back on her life as she nears her 100th birthday
