Don C. Rigby, successful farmer and businessman for many years in Caribou County, Idaho, died on March 3, 2008, at age 93. He died from general organ failure, nearly three and a half years after a debilitating truck/train accident left him mostly paralyzed. The accident occurred on September 17, 2004, near his farm in Bancroft, Idaho. He was a devoted father of five, grandfather of 13, and great-grandfather of 6, as well as a very active member of the L.D.S. Church, and a friend and inspiration to many people.

Don bought his first piece of land in 1939, at age 24--520 acres for $20 an acre, which he was able to pay off in one year. From that small start, he bought land, leased land, and worked doggedly as a tenant farmer over many years, until his operation at its peak included nearly 40,000 acres of tillable and range land and some 2,000 head of cattle. He cultivated wheat, barley and sod in Idaho and Utah, owned and developed valuable water rights, and mined and sold cinders. Starting with dry-farm land only, he ultimately was able to bring irrigation to some 7,000 acres of tillable land.

Don's life as a farmer spanned a remarkable era of agricultural development—from clearing sagebrush by hand to full-blown mechanization. When he was a boy in the 1920s, he walked behind a single horse and plow on dry farm land that his father had homesteaded near Bancroft, Idaho. His family later bought a small John Deere tractor that had a headlight; they would work the land with the tractor during the day and then lend the tractor to neighbors to use at night. After Don started buying his own land and some equipment, he hired a "water witch" in the 1960s to fly in from Bakersfield, California, and "douse" with a forked stick in search of a productive well; the "water witch" found a well that Don developed, now called "Old Faithful," that pumps several thousand gallons a minute. This and one other water well led in the 1970's to Don's installing 14 large automated circular irrigation systems. At one point his farm near Snowville, Utah, utilized 11 combines working simultaneously to harvest its wheat crop.

The advent of machinery-driven farming did not eliminate battles with nature, however--Don experienced challenges from clouds of locusts, from fire, freezing weather and drought. One year, with several combines idling at the edge of the giant field in Snowville in preparation to harvest, an 11-minute hail storm destroyed the entire crop as they watched.

Don Clarke Rigby was born on December 30, 1914, in Newton, Utah, to Moses William Rigby and Iva Polly Nelson Rigby. He was the second of five children. He grew up in Newton, spending his summers working with his father on the family farm in Idaho, and he graduated from North Cache High School as Valedictorian in 1933.

He attended Utah State University, majoring in Modern Languages, specifically French. He married Daisy Whitney, of Tremonton, Utah, on October 30, 1936, in the Logan L.D.S. Temple. She was a Registered Nurse. Not long after his marriage, Don set out to fulfill his long-term wish to serve an L.D.S. mission. With financial help from his wife and parents, he served a two-and-a-half year mission in Germany, from 1937 to 1939. During his mission, he observed the rise of Adolph Hitler to power, and wrote and published first-hand reports for the Logan Herald Journal newspaper on the growing Nazi power. He recalled the chilling sight of squadrons of German Luftwaffe flying overhead on a mission that he subsequently learned was the bombing of Warsaw. Daisy came to Europe to meet him, and they were planning on his going to school in Switzerland. Instead, he was evacuated from Europe along with all Mormon missionaries as World War II began. When he left Germany he sponsored two German families with his U.S. passport, and then he helped them find work and build a new life in Utah.

Don graduated from Utah State University in 1939. He accepted a position as a German interpreter for U.S. Military Intelligence, in San Antonio, Texas, but the weekend before he was to leave, his father persuaded him to look at a small farm that was for sale in Bancroft. He bought the 520 acres the next day. Over the next few years, he bought more pieces of land of his own, while also working with his father on the family farm. When the family later decided that Don's younger brother Max would run the family farm, Don was able to buy property in Snowville, Utah, starting in 1951, and he ultimately acquired some 14,000 acres there.

Don and Daisy were the parents of three children, Lynne, Ross, and Christine. Daisy died at age 41 of a cerebral hemorrhage on June 24, 1956, when their children were age 14, 8 and 3.

Don subsequently married Virginia Ericksen, of Beaver Dam, Utah, on September 29, 1958, in the Logan L.D.S. temple, and they were the parents of two children, Eric and Suzanne. Virginia was a talented pianist and devoted mother.

In 1958 Don also started running the five-thousand-acre Mose Christensen farm in Bancroft, as a tenant farmer, and he operated it for 13 years. Then in 1971, he sold the land in Snowville, and bought the Mose Christensen farm. He also ran the Whitney farm near Blue Creek, Utah, for several years after the untimely death of his brother-in-law Lawrence Whitney. Don's father Mose worked with Don on Don's farm until Mose was age 85, in 1973.

Don was a devoted member of the L.D.S. Church. He served as Bishop of the Logan First Ward for more than five years, and he was on the Logan Stake High Council for many years. He also was a teacher, pianist, and Home Teacher. For many years he drove 85 miles every morning from his farm in Bancroft to attend Temple sessions at the Logan Temple, and then drove back and put in a full day of work. Don and Virginia were members of a "Club" for more than fifty years, a group of some ten couples who were like-minded in their devotion to Mormonism and in their "extended family" friendships with each other.

Don was very proud of his Mormon heritage, being the great-grandson of William F. Rigby, who was born in 1833 in Saddleworth, England, near Manchester, was baptized into the Mormon Church in 1848, and sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans in 1853 on his way to "Zion," arriving just six years after Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley. William F. Rigby had seven wives and 38 children, and is believed to have the second largest group of progeny in the Mormon Church, second only to the Brigham Young family. Don also descended on his mother's side from Danish and Norwegian converts to Mormonism, named Nelson and Jacobs.

Don was sustained in his efforts to develop his farm by the view that he was "building up the Kingdom of Zion," and that he was fulfilling Joseph Smith's prophecy that "the desert would blossom as the rose." When Don drove past his phalanxes of sprinklers, he frequently would say, "What a sight!" and then repeat that prophecy.

Don was preceded in death by his parents, his older brother Woodrow Rigby, and his sister Reva Richardson. His sister Beryl Whitesides currently lives in Boise, Idaho, and his brother Max Rigby lives in Logan, Utah.

Don and his first wife, Daisy, were the parents of three children: Lynne Rigby Weaver, married to Ron Weaver, currently of Bancroft, Idaho; Ross Rigby, who died in 1979, and Christine Rigby Arrington, currently of Larchmont, New York.

Don and his second wife, Virginia, were the parents of two children: Eric Don Rigby, married to Lora Mortensen Rigby, currently of Paris, France; and Suzanne Rigby, currently of Washington, D.C. After their children were grown, Don cared for Virginia during a number of years of her ill health, until her death from Alzheimer's on May 18, 1999.

After the accident in 2004, Don lived at the South Davis Community long-term care Hospital in Bountiful, Utah, where he was visited by many friends and family. He was particularly cared for by his daughter Suzanne Rigby and his niece Laurel Lindsay. Suzanne and Monte Wakley, Don's long-time farm manager, were able to continue to run his farm, with frequent advice from Don on key questions, such as when to sell, and when and how much to plant, up until about a month before his death.

Don is survived by 13 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. Ron and Lynne Weaver have six children: Wendy Weaver, David Weaver who is married to Leena (children Baylee, Mekenzee and Trey), Heidi Weaver, Steven Weaver who is married to Alison (children Jeremy and Jaxson), and Mathew and Micah. Ross Rigby and Lonnie Besso Rigby were the parents of Michael White and James Rigby Besso. Christine Arrington and Carl Arrington (divorced) are the parents of Alexis and Olivia Arrington. Eric Rigby and Lora Mortenson Rigby are the parents of Brandon Rigby who is married to Liz (one child Matthew), Christopher Rigby and Johnny Rigby.

The funeral was held at the Bancroft L.D.S. Church on Saturday, March 15th, 2008, at Noon. Burial was in the Logan Cemetery at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 15th.