Walter Lee Riggs: Acclaimed Veterinarian and USAF Officer (1946–2004)
By: William V. Scott
Published: April 30, 2025
Updated: April 30, 2025
Walter Lee Riggs, veterinarian, veterinary medical officer in the United States Air Force and the United States Department of Agriculture, and veterinary epidemiologist, was born on November 13, 1946, in San Antonio, Texas, to Willis Jewel, Jr., and Laura Sue (Gayle) Riggs, who both worked at Kelly Field (later Kelly Air Force Base). Walter Riggs was the eldest of three children, including a brother, Weldon, and a sister, Susan. The family later moved to the Oak Island community in southern Bexar County, where they were active in the Oak Island Methodist Church. Riggs served as a youth leader and was later assistant choir director and active in Methodist Youth Fellowship.
Riggs attended Somerset High School, where he played in the school band and was vice president of the freshman class. He served as president of his class the other three years, and he helped establish the Beta Club, an honor society, for which he was president his senior year. He also served in various offices at the school, regional, and state levels of Future Farmers of America. Riggs was named the San Antonio area’s Most Outstanding Teen-age Boy of 1964, and he graduated as valedictorian from high school in 1965. He graduated from Texas A&M University with bachelor of science degrees in animal science and veterinary science in 1969. While at Texas A&M, Riggs was active in Phi Eta Sigma, Alpha Zeta, National Block and Bridle Club, Saddle and Sirloin Club, and the Wesley Foundation. In 1972 he graduated with a doctor of veterinary medicine from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine.
Walter Lee Riggs married Rhonda June Parker on June 15, 1968, at Palm Heights United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. The Riggs welcomed two children, Nathan and Miken.
Through an early commissioning program, Riggs joined the United States Air Force (USAF) while in veterinary school. Upon graduation, he went on active duty in the Veterinary Corps. He was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Force Base for three years, from 1972 to 1975, and lived in the German villages of Spangdahlem and Dudeldorf.
By 1976 Riggs was employed with the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) as a veterinary medical officer working in the field and stationed in Tyler, Texas. His responsibilities were related to foreign animal diseases, mainly brucellosis and tuberculosis in the “Nation’s Herd.” He worked in Tyler for twenty-three years. His wife, Rhonda, became the executive director of the East Texas Deaf and Hearing Association and promoted the general welfare of the deaf and hard of hearing in Tyler and throughout East Texas. Riggs was active in the local Lions Club.
As part of the USAF Reserves, Riggs was attached to the 917th Reserve Hospital Unit at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. During Desert Shield/Storm, the 917th was called to active duty, and, in Alexandria, Louisiana, Riggs and the hospital unit backfilled the hospital unit at England Air Force Base, which had been transferred to a foreign front. During Riggs's service to the USAF, his duty title changed from Working with Sentry Dogs to Public Health Officer with Security Clearance. With twenty-five years of service, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves in 1994. His awards and citations from the USAF included Training Ribbon, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship with one device, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Longevity Service Award with three devices, Overseas Long Tour Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Recognition Ribbon, Achievement Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal.
In the USDA, Riggs became a significant member of the Tripartite Force with participants from the United States, Mexico, and Canada concerning issues regarding the tracking and management of foreign animal diseases and the effects that each country’s livestock industry would suffer should a foreign animal disease arise. In 1998 Riggs moved to the Austin area, where he was the veterinary epidemiologist for the Western Region of the USDA. He lived in Buda, Texas.
Walter Lee Riggs died on July 27, 2004, at age fifty-seven, from an aortic dissection while he was attending a USDA work conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. His ashes were buried in a family plot of the Oak Island Cemetery in Bexar County, adjacent to his childhood church, as he was a lifelong Methodist.
Bibliography:
“Dr Walter Lee Riggs,” Find A Grave Memorial (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9254042/walter-lee-riggs?_gl=1*esba42*_gcl_au*Njk4NjgwMzM3LjE3NDQ3NDM3NTM.*_ga*MTkzOTA4MDkxMi4xNzQ0NzQzNzYx*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*ZTUwNGM4MjYtZjJkOC00ZWVjLTg3OTctY2ViNjgzMmM1MTY5LjIuMS4xNzQ1MzUxMjM0LjAuMC4w*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*ZTUwNGM4MjYtZjJkOC00ZWVjLTg3OTctY2ViNjgzMmM1MTY5LjIuMS4xNzQ1MzUxMjM0LjU1LjAuMA), accessed April 22, 2025. San Antonio Express and News, May 30, 1965; October 22, 1967. Tyler Morning Telegraph, August 3, 4, 2004.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
William V. Scott, “Riggs, Walter Lee,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/riggs-walter-lee.
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- April 30, 2025
- April 30, 2025
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