Ada Redd Rigby

March 2, 1929 ~ April 17, 2016
Ada Redd Rigby passed away peacefully on April 17, 2016 in Grand Junction, CO surrounded by her family.
The eldest child of Benjamin Franklin Redd, Jr. and Theressa Allan Redd, Ada was born March 2, 1929 in Blanding, UT in the home of her grandfather and grandmother Allan.
She lived in Blanding her entire life except for four years of college and a year each in Myton, UT and Sloan, NV, where she taught in two-room schoolhouses with her sweetheart, Truman.
While in Blanding, she lived on the same block, being born on the northeast corner, raised on the southeast corner and has lived in the home of her Redd grandparents from 1953 to 2013.
She lived the last three years of her life in the home of her loving daughter Brenda in Grand Junction.
Ada was kind, soft-spoken and unassuming. She loved seeing the accomplishments of others.
She was very proud of her Hole-n-the-Rock heritage and absolutely loved Blanding, San Juan County, and their surrounding majestic landscapes and the wonderful people whom she loved and who loved her.
While at Utah State University, she met and fell in love with her eternal sweetheart, Truman Keller Rigby, Jr. They were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Idaho Falls Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 20, 1948.
They were constant companions and truly in love. They were married for 64 years.
Ada and Truman both graduated from USU in Elementary Education. Ada taught school until her daughter, Angela, came to the family.
Ada was an accomplished and renowned artist and gardener. She was awarded the Governor’s Award as Utah Folk Artist of the Year in 2003 in recognition of her cut pictures.
She had many pictures published in magazines and was frequently on display at the LDS Church Museum. She was a prolific painter, mostly of sites in San Juan County as well as an accomplished quilt-maker.
Ada made and kept her own porcelain doll collection. She wrote and assembled her own dictionary of herbs.
Ada loved to share the bounties of her flower and vegetable gardens with everyone. She often made fresh flower arrangements and delivered them to anyone she felt was in need. Most of the produce from her large vegetable garden was given to others.
She kept detailed histories of herself, her family, and her pioneer ancestors and of Blanding and it’s last century of residents. She was indeed a pioneer woman living in modern times.
Ada is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Truman Keller Rigby, Jr.; a daughter, Angela Cameron; and her brothers, Chester, Craig and Peter Redd.
She is survived by her children, Brenda (Kelly) Dearth of Grand Junction, CO and Blake (Michelle) Rigby of Salt Lake City, UT; as well as five grandchildren and six (soon to be eight) great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her siblings Tracy, Cecilia and Asenath.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at noon at the Blanding LDS South Chapel under the direction of the San Juan Mortuary.
Viewings will be held at the Mortuary the prior evening from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and at the Mortuary just prior to the funeral service from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Blanding City Cemetery.
Per Ada’s wishes, in lieu of flowers, please contribute to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund.