Clyde Armstrong Riggs

Clyde Armstrong Riggs was born Nov. 30, 1934, in Oklahoma City and died in his hometown July 18, 2010, as a result of a bicycle accident. He was 75 years old. Born in the Great Depression, raised mostly by a single mother, Clyde Riggs was a self made man who created his own company from scratch in his early 20s. For more than a half-century, starting in 1958, Clyde was a builder, developer and contractor who did business across the country but always preferred doing it in Oklahoma, in the city and state he loved. Many Oklahomans knew him from the black construction trailers bearing the name of his company, Clyde Riggs Construction, on job sites for office buildings, apartments and even restaurants. Through the years he and his employees did hundreds of projects, on jobs large and small, including work for Devon Energy, Chesapeake Energy and some of Oklahoma City's top physicians. At the time of his death, he remained the principal owner of his company, and had planned to work full time for at least another five years. Like many successful businessmen, he loved putting together business deals, and was working on new ones in Oklahoma and outside the state in recent weeks. Through it all he relied on expertise and relationships built up over 52 years to navigate the economic ups and downs of the construction industry. His interests outside work were fun and wide ranging. He enjoyed fast things; for example, he was among the first to introduce go-karts to Oklahoma City in the early 1960s and also raced motorcycles when he was young. For the better part of two decades, he and friends attended the annual Indianapolis 500 race, where he knew many of the drivers and their sponsors. In 1979, he participated in the Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, made famous through a popular movie starring Burt Reynolds. Clyde and his two partners drove a Cadillac from Connecticut to California in under 37 hours, averaging 82 mph at a time when the speed limit was 55 mph. His Cannonball team finished seventh out of 45 teams. Snow skiing was another passion, and he skied some of the best slopes in the western United States even into his 70s. Most of all, he loved to ride bicycles, particularly with friends. Clyde took cycling trips to western Europe and to wine country in California, but he was most at home on the roadways of central Oklahoma. Through the years he met many friends through recreational cycling, and was a staple at cycling events, including one in Norman on the last weekend of his life. Clyde was a fan of OU men's basketball, and frequently accompanied friends to out of town games and tournaments to cheer on the Sooners. And he loved to vacation with family and friends, both in the United States and overseas. He was active in various charities; one of his favorites was Rebuilding Together, formerly known as Christmas in April. In recent weeks he had been working with Special Care, a facility for children with special needs, to contribute to a proposed expansion and help build it. But his preferred method of sharing his time and resources was done in quiet ways, often anonymously. He was a 1952 graduate of Classen High School and attended Oklahoma City University. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mary Lewis; his father, Clyde Riggs; and his brother, Alex Riggstokauf, the former Jimmy Riggs. Survivors are his longtime companion, Sarah Crandall, of Oklahoma City; a daughter, Rayma Jones and her husband, David Miller, of Edmond; two sons, Derek Riggs and his partner, Kim Joyner, of Houston, Texas; and Haden Riggs and Hanna Stice, of Oklahoma City; two granddaughters, Elizabeth Cannon and her husband, Cameron, of Denver, Colo.; and Susanne Kramer and her husband, Chris, currently in the Peace Corps in Swaziland; a sister, Carole Kelley and her husband, Ed, of Oklahoma City; two nephews, John Kelley and his wife, Rachel, and Mike Kelley and his fiancee, Kelly Ginter, all of Washington, D.C., and a niece, Maureen Kelley and her fiance, Antoine LeBlanc, both of Yukon. A memorial service to celebrate the life of an extraordinary man, who passed from this life doing something he loved, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 14700 N. May Ave. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Special Care Inc., 12201 N Western, Oklahoma City, OK 73114.