Marian Rigney, 97, of Manchester Center, Vermont, and formerly of Garrison, died at her home on Feb. 2, 2019.
Known to family and friends as “Mutti,” she was born on June 1, 1921, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the eldest of the three children of Ernest and Mabel Picard. After moving to New York City as a young woman, she met Kenneth Thompson, and they were married in 1941.
The couple lived in Westchester County and were both accomplished golfers and figure skaters. When three children came along in quick succession, the couple decided that skiing would be the ideal family sport. Kenneth, a lawyer who dabbled in architecture, designed a ski chalet that they built in 1950 on the Peru/Winhall line close to Bromley. The little pink chalet was an apres-ski gathering place for many years.
Following Kenneth’s death in 1970, Marian continued her life in the Hudson River Valley, where she was a paralegal and later a real estate broker. On Oct. 17, 1976, she married Thomas Rigney, a physician who had served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II. (One had to ski to be part of the family!)
The Rigneys lived in Garrison and participated fully in life at West Point, where Dr. Rigney was on the staff of Keller Hospital at the time of his death in 1999, at age 79. He also earlier an emergency room physician at the Hudson Valley Hospital Center for many years.
About a decade ago, Marian moved to Vermont, where she brought her landscape and gardening expertise to the home she shared with her daughter, Bonnie Dixon, and son-in-law, Robert Dixon. She was active in Neighbor-to-Neighbor and the Peru Congregational Church.
Besides her daughter and son-in-law, she is survived by her son, Kenneth Thompson (Tina Buckley) and daughter, Nancy Lundy (Lee); eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and her stepchildren, Alison Rigney and Glenn Rigney.
Memorial donations may be made to Neighbor-to-Neighbor (neighbortoneighborvt.org) or Bayada Foundation Hospice Fund (donatenow.networkforgood.org/1441751).
