Lewis C. Rigler

Retired Texas Ranger Lewis C. Rigler, 94, passed away June 25, 2009 at Muenster Rehabilitation Center after a long battle with cancer. Rigler was the second oldest living retired Ranger.



Funeral services are set for 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 2009, at the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Texas, with the Reverend Don Yeager officiating. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery.



Visitation is planned for Sunday, June 28, 2009, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the George J. Carroll Funeral Home.



Lewis Rigler was born on August 7, 1914, in Lorena, Texas, to John William and Sadie Willie Rigler. He was six years old when his father died of typhoid fever, leaving a wife and four children with no means of support. Lewis was sent to live and work on an uncle’s farm outside Lorena.



In the memoir he wrote more than 60 years later, Rigler described sitting at the edge of the cotton field many mornings, waiting for the first light to begin picking. In spite of the hard work, he kept up with his schoolwork, graduating from high school in 1931, and always dreamed of a better life. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, then enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1935. He met and married Leah Machacek, a surgical nurse, left the Army and began studying veterinary science at Texas A&M College.



When the first of his three sons was born, he left college and began his training with the Department of Public Safety in 1941. He served as a State Trooper in Grand Prairie, Texas, until he received an appointment to the Texas Rangers and was assigned to Company B in Gainesville, Texas, in 1947.



After 23 years of marriage, Leah passed away in 1960. Rigler thought he would never marry again, but he met a young lady named Joyce Tucker Tempel and her five young daughters, and that changed his mind. They married in 1963, he adopted five girls, and he said raising his daughters kept him young.



Rigler was active in many community and business affairs, including the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Director of the North Texas Bank and a longtime member of the Former Texas Rangers Association.



He retired in 1977 from the Department of Public Safety, but he never stopped being a Ranger. He was always blessed with the camaraderie of a fine group of Texas law enforcement officers and associates.



Dallas Morning News columnist Kent Biffle wrote of Rigler, “You won’t peg Lewis Rigler right off as a man who wore a Texas Ranger badge for three decades. He shuns big hats, tall boots and clenched-teeth conversations. Five-nine with a paunch, Ranger Rigler once broke his wrist in a fall from a Shetland pony.”



After his retirement from the Rangers, Rigler entered the field of investment and business consultation and remained active, going to his office six days a week, until poor health forced his retirement in 2007.



He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Janette and Dorothy, brother Linville and his first wife, Leah.



Rigler is survived by his wife of 46 years, Joyce Tucker Tempel Rigler. He also leaves behind 8 children and their spouses, Steve Rigler and wife Connie, Mike Rigler and wife Joanna, Erik Rigler and wife Judyth, Lynda Hacker and husband Jim, Charlotte Barnes and husband Mel, Patti Mercer and husband Rick, Diane Rigler, Janet Brazelton and husband Mark; 18 grandchildren and their spouses, Steven R. Rigler and wife Kerra, Blaine Rigler and wife Kathy, Paige Olsen and husband Scotty, Kelly Rigler, Leah Perryman, Jennifer Witt and husband John, Trevor Rigler and wife Jenny Jernigan, Jim Hacker, Sherry Hacker, Joyce Walterscheid and husband Jeff, Matthew Murrell, Michelle Kraal and husband Seth, Michael Mercer, Natalie Mercer, Jacob Ranger Blount and wife Kenzi, Gena Ettinger and husband Mark, Cody Brazelton and Ashley Brazelton; and 15 great-grandchildren, Austin Rigler, Devin Rigler, Joshua Olsen, Grace Olsen, Liberty Perryman, Diesel Perryman, Ezekiel Rigler, Ezra Rigler, Devon Hacker, Bryce Hacker, Jasmine Hacker, Jaden Ranger Walterscheid, Conner Walterscheid, Brady Walterscheid, Trenton Michael Ranger Blount and special cousins.



Pallbearers will be grandsons Michael Mercer, Jacob Ranger Blount, Steven R. Rigler, Blaine Rigler, Matthew Murrell, Trevor Rigler, Jimmy Hacker, Cody Brazelton, and Tommy Vaughn.



Honorary pallbearers will be William Sullivant, Belvin Harris, Dr. James Cole, Phil Adams, Van Knight, Robert Martindale, Richard Klement, Everett Marler and Dr. Edd Advincula.



The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. James Cole, Dr. Edd Advincula and all the staff of the Muenster Rehabilitation Center for their loving care and concern. Special thanks for his caregivers Emilio Marin, Mae Evelyn Williams and Miriam Juarez for their tireless support and love.



In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Lewis C. Rigler Scholarship Fund at North Texas Central College, 1525 W. California, Gainesville, Texas; The First United Methodist Church Building Fund, 214 S. Denton Street, Gainesville, Texas, or the charity of one’s choice.