Max Kelly Riggins (95) of Loogootee

Max Kelly Riggins (95) of Loogootee began a new season with the Lord on October 12, 2023.   

Kelly was born June 13, 1928 in Daviess County to Russell and Maude Riggins.  He was married to Mary Rosalie (Beasley) for sixty-four years before her passing in 2018.  

Kelly was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother and uncle.  He was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loogootee after being a long-standing and active member in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bramble, before its closing.   Even though they lost their original home and barn to a tornado in 2005, Kelly and Rosalie lived on the same small, family farm, located north of Bramble, since 1957.  Just down the road, Kelly was one of the founding-members of the Bramble Conservation Club.

After serving in the Army during the Korean War era, Kelly worked at NSWC Crane for 37 years serving on the fire department and then in the water and sewer operations, becoming the superintendent of those operations the last several years of his career.  He retired from Crane in 1986 but then very much enjoyed his 37 years of retirement.  

Kelly loved quail and deer hunting, fishing, pitching fast-pitch softball until the age of 47, playing euchre and bingo with Rosalie at various venues, sitting on his back porch watching the purple martins, following his kids and grandkids in all of their sporting events, and later in life became an unbeatable rummy player.  For many years he raised and trained English pointers for quail hunting.  There were very few farms in Martin and Daviess County with which he was not familiar, and he knew exactly where every covey of quail could be found.  Kelly was an amazing shot with his shotgun and rifle, shooting many clay pigeons over at the Epsom Gun Club and dimes out of the air with his old .22.  

Kelly leaves behind his son Mark of Murray, Kentucky; daughter Diane (John) Vaupel of Bramble, Indiana;  and son Jim (Lisa) of Bloomington, Indiana;  five grandchildren Chelsea Riggins (Mark); Andrea (Nick) Wilmes and Ryan (Kaylyn) Vaupel (Diane); Ben (Hanna) Riggins and Clay (Aubrey) Riggins (Jim);  two great-grandchildren Grace and Cooper Riggins (Ben); one brother Roger (Karin) Riggins of Arvada, Colorado; and one sister in law Liz (Terry) Bordenet of Lafayette, Indiana.  He is preceded in death by his wife Rosalie, parents, four brothers and one sister, his granddaughter, Mallory Riggins (Jim), and his daughter- in-law, Tammie Riggins (Mark).

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by the Very Rev. J. Kenneth Walker at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bramble. A burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be held Monday, October 16, 2023 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Blake Funeral Home in Loogootee and Tuesday, October 17, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. until the time of service at the church. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to:

St. Joseph, Bramble Cemetery Fund (St. John the Evangelist, 408 Church St, Loogootee, Indiana 47553)

Raglesville Cemetery Fund (9977 North Cross Street, Odon, Indiana 47562)

Ketcham Memorial Center for Dementia Care (601 East Race Street, Odon, IN 47562)