Tribute to Don & Gloria Rigali

God, our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have given us the opportunity of life. We were meant to be here. On top of it, we were born in the USA, a country where we can aspire to become anything we choose, if we work at it hard enough. We are very blessed.

Memories (A work in progress)

Juli: “Some of my fondest memories were of going camping and fishing as a family. I also enjoyed all the times we went off-roading and exploring old gold/silver/copper mines and other historical sites.
Of course we all know I love HOLIDAYS!!! And my parents made them very special when we were growing up!  
I will never forget the time Dad pretended to sneeze on me after washing his hands. I was so grossed out. Later when I needed to sneeze, I truly sneezed on him. He was quite displeased. LOL!
My mamma used to sit up next to us when we were sick. She’d rub our heads or tummies. She had the most comforting hands in all the world.”

Ken: “I think my favorite memory was our trip to the San Diego Zoo and then we stayed the night at Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy’s house. Also every Christmas. The epic battles with Boss Rooster. And I have very fond memories of our Saturday morning breakfasts.”

Cory: “Gummi – Wheaties Man. From the day she learned how to play like a boy!
Duck – He introduced me to computers. The silly story he wrote where everyone was a forest animal.”

Nick: “I have great memories of the stories of us as animals when I was little!”

Monique: “My favorite memory with Grandpa is him photographing my build-a-bears doing fun activities while I was away. My favorite memory with Grandma is actually just sitting in her room in Texas, talking to her about all the things on my mind and her listening to me like I wasn’t just a child.”

Brett: “Some of my favorite times were when we had game nights and played board games together. I remember when we all wanted the Black Pearl, so we had to draw the ships from above to make it fair. I used to sit in Grandpa’s lap and watch ‘Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang’ when I was frustrated. And I loved watching the Weather Channel when at their house.  How about drinking chocolate milk with grandpa in the mornings? And telling him he had to share ice cream and he would say, ‘Mine, all mine!’ Gummi would give me those swirled mint candies that were so good. To this day, nobody in the family has beat my time at 52 card pick-up!”

Levi: “I have happy memories of going to Conroe Incredible Pizza with Grandpa and Grandma. Bethany and I took apart their vacuum cleaner and sang ‘Teamwork!’ When I was little I wanted to marry my Grandma, because she was so sweet, so we had a pretend ceremony. Grandpa gave me my first Boohbah and I thought it was saying, ‘Levi!’ “

Bethany: “Some of my favorite memories with Gummi and Grandpa consist of times when we’d have a board-game night, or when we’d visit them and hang out for the day.
I love memories of them telling stories and listening to them.
Oh, and winning small prizes while playing bingo and whatnot.
And their little dog ‘Rock San Rose’ or ‘Rox An Rose’ (Roxanne). What a playful old pupper.”

Reagan and Bradley: “We loved making hot cocoa marshmallow snowmen with grandma while visiting with them.”