Bernard Rigney

Kennebec, SD

1938, 792, Roubaix, F-6,

Bernard Rigney, age 82, of Yankton, passed away Thursday, February 21, 2002, at the Human Service Center, Yankton.

At his request, his children plan a private service in San Francisco this spring. There will be no public service or visitation.

Bernard Rigney was born on March 28, 1919, in Kennebec, S.D., to Martin and Lily May (Schumacher) Rigney. After graduation from high school, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, working at Roubaix Lake in the Black Hills. He joined the U.S. Marines in 1939 and served until the end of World War II, receiving an honorable discharge as a Master Sergeant following service that included Saipan and Guadalcanal. He returned to Kennebec and on August 2, 1952, and married Gloria Mary Smith (later divorced). The couple moved to Sioux Falls in 1955, where Rigney worked for the state highway department and in other jobs before joining the U.S. Postal Service in 1963. He retired from the postal service in 1978 and for the past several years had been living in Yankton at the Human Service Center.

Survivors include his four children: Melanie Rigney and her husband, Ronald Kolstad, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Maureen Rigney of Chicago, Ill.; Michael Rigney of Lisle, Ill.; and Kathleen (Rigney) and Michael Wells of Naperville, Ill.; two grandchildren, Matthew and Annelise Wells of Naperville, Ill.; a sister, Mrs. Anne Bies of Salem, S.D.; a brother, Patrick Rigney of Winner, S.D.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, Gerry Rigney, who died in 1982 in Madelia, Minn., and Joe Rigney, who died in 1945 during World War II while fighting in Germany.

Memorials may be directed to the staff of Willow I, Human Service Center, PO Box 76, Yankton, SD 57078.

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