Leland Stanford Riggs

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jimmy Heye on December 22, 2000:

Buck - MR. PAD AND POPCORN - fits your Kaydet days perfectly. MR. EXCEL apply fits your post West Point days in the United States Air Force, Professor and Assistant Dean of Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech; designer of high rise office buildings; and the lead designer and construction superintendent for the Martin Luther King Memorial in Atlanta. Sylvanus Thayer would be disappointed that the system did not motivate you to such performance heights in your academy days. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to share time with you on my many business trips to Atlanta, Georgia. Fortunate, yes indeed fortunate. I was fortunate to be locked in a car with you on the way to the Masters Golf Tournaments. I had your undivided attention for three plus hours. THE MAN OF FEW WORDS actually shared what he was thinking about - thoughts and memories that I pried out of you. These conversations are treasures, filed away. I continue to marvel at your outstanding achievements as a USAF fighter pilot. Outstanding stick and a superb combat tour in the A-1. Georgia Tech students held you in awe. The Dean held you in awe. Those Graduate School applicants had no clue as to the agony that Doctor Riggs experienced in the culling process to take only the most deserving individuals. You filled the bill perfectly as the Assistant Dean of the Civil Engineering School. I never play a round of golf that I do not think about what the Base Champion (plural) said to do and not to do. Thanks for sharing the time we spent together: Kaydet, Air Force and Academician.. You still make me feel extraordinary. Jimmy Heye

admin