Michael (Mike) Hall Rigsby passed away peacefully at the age of eighty-six on Wednesday, the 2^nd of March 2022 surrounded by his family.  He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 18^th of December 1935 and was reared there until he and his family moved to Houma, Louisiana in late 1949.  Mike graduated from Terrebonne High School in 1953.  After graduation, he worked in the body repair shop of a local DeSoto-Plymouth automobile dealership until obtaining work with Patterson Truck Line of Houma as an accounting clerk.  In January 1954, he began a three-year tour in the United States Marine Corps as a bandsman at San Diego, California, attaining the rank of Sergeant.  Not only was he an excellent bandsman, Mike was an Expert Rifleman.  He was always a faithful Marine.

After his military service, Mike worked for Mud Supply Company, a division of Dresser-Magcobar in Houma while attending Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.  He earned his BA in 1960 and began teaching in Terrebonne Parish schools and ten years later earned his Master’s Degree in Education from Nicholls State.  His tenure in Terrebonne Parish schools included teaching at the elementary and junior high levels.  Mike retired from Terrebonne Parish schools in 1986 after spending the last ten years as a guidance counselor, first at Terrebonne High School and then at H. L. Bourgeois High School.

On May 30, 1959, Mike married Carolyn Harriet Erwin of Franklinton, Louisiana.  During their nearly 63-year marriage, they enjoyed many good times.  Early on Mike obtained his pilot’s license and then he and Carolyn became airplane owners for four years.  After their daughter Laura was born, most summers were spent on road trips to the western United States.  Trips included the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Las Vegas.  In the late 1970s they became owners of a 1939 Packard Six Coupe and that began many adventures of restoration and very active membership in Lone Star Packards and Packard Automobile Classics.  Mike and Carolyn took many trips around the country to various antique car functions.  Other activities and active memberships included the National Rifle Association, First United Methodist Church of Houma, and St. Martin’s Episcopal Church of Houston.

In 1987, Mike and Carolyn moved to the Clear Lake area of Houston and both resumed teaching in 1988 for Pasadena Independent School District.  He proudly taught English and English as a second language at the elementary and intermediate grades and retired in 2009.  In retirement, he enjoyed his life-long passion of reading, mainly Civil War or World War II material, working on his antique cars, researching family genealogy, and supporting Texas A&M Aggie and LSU Tiger football teams.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Millard Hixon Rigsby and Alice Lucille Peebles Rigsby, and his brother, William P. Rigsby.  Mike is survived by his wife, Carolyn, daughter Laura Boyd and her husband Ronald J. (Ronny), grandson Bryan J. Boyd, granddaughter, Kathryn E. Boyd, step-granddaughter, Melissa M. Boyd, and step-great-granddaughter, Taya Boyd.  We will miss him greatly, as will his faithful Maltese, Patience.

A visitation will be at 2:00 PM with a memorial service following at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, March 8^th at Crowder Funeral Home, 111 East Medical Center Blvd., Webster, Texas. A graveside service will be held at a later date at Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster.  If desired, memorial contributions in his memory may be made to the Houston SPCA or to the charity of one’s choice.

Semper Fi