Look up to the ceilings in Shore Acres Clubhouse to see the handiwork of the late Dean Riggins.
Walk on the floors to feel the care of Riggins’ carpenter hands.
Notice the doors he renovated, including one of his last projects, three sets of double doors to the balcony.
That project was especially tricky, taking him a couple months to find a Peoria business to help him with the unusual architecture of two round pieces of glass on each wooden door.
“He was kinda the founding father of the building,” said Kevin Yates, director of parks and recreation for the Chillicothe Park District.
Riggins, at the age of 82, died last week.
Yates said when the park district acquired the building it was dilapidated and since that time, Riggins gave it his touch both inside and out.
He volunteered at least 15 to 20 hours per week on maintaining the park and clubhouse just during Yates’ time as director of parks and recreation for the Chillicothe Park District.
“He tried to teach me every nook and cranny of Shore Acres Park,” said Yates.
And when something needed attention, Riggins would tell Yates, “Let me go get the tools in the Job Jar.” He kept his Chevy Suburban full of Sears tools, Yates said.
When Yates first met Riggins, he was always doing jobs or helping people out with his master carpenter skills.
He was very adamant about who the park district did business with as well.
“We do not do business with out-of-town individuals if we can help it at Dean’s insistence,” said Yates.
Residents who enjoy walking along the river at the park use the Riggins River Walk.
It was the source of a joke for Riggins to tell, Yates said.
“He had a walk named after him and he wasn’t even dead yet,” said Yates.
Riggins had a sense of humor, but sometimes those on the receiving end were not always 100 percent sure.
In his second year at the park, Yates said he and Riggins had just got the pool filled up.
A 60-to-65 degree day in Chillicothe, the water also was about the same temperature.
Yates accidentally dropped a screwdriver in the deep end of the pool.
Telling Riggins he would retrieve it in a few days when the water warmed up, Riggins smirked at Yates and said, “I need that screwdriver.”
Yates got down to his skivies and dove into the cold water.
“It took my breath away,” remembered Yates, noting it took him two or three times to actually retrieve the tool.
When Yates came back up with the screwdriver, Riggins said with a smile, “Thanks, I needed it this weekend.”
“You never really knew if he was serious or joking, but I think he was joking,” said Yates.
On a serious note, Riggins was recognized by the Illinois Association of Park Districts for his 40 years of service on the board in 2007. He also served two terms as president.
His work was not only with the park district, however.
Pearce Community Center director Ben Alvarez, who was the first director and is the current director now, said Riggins was general contractor for Pearce’s remodeling.
“He came onto Pearce’s project in 1989 when it was more or less being supervised by the Chillicothe Foundation,” said Alvarez of the time period before there was a Pearce board and foundation.
“He knew the place inside and out,” said Alvarez of the building Riggins and the crew transformed from an uninhabited building to a community center.
“He was a real authority on windows and doors,” said Alvarez.
After that time, Riggins volunteered his time like others in the Pearce Seniors.
“Everybody that knew Dean knew he had kind of a gruff exterior — he called it like he saw it — but he really had a soft heart and was an easy guy to get along with once you established a relationship,” said Alvarez.
With a perfectionist attitude, “You were always sure there weren’t any shortcuts taken,” said Alvarez about Riggins.
Current park president Mike Krost said it was not unusual for him to meet up with Riggins once or twice a week as
Riggins showed him the ropes of running the park district and explaining things along the way.
As a child, Krost related, Riggins was given the chore before a picnic of ridding the picnic tables under a pavilion from bird droppings. The way the trusses were built allowed birds to roost there.
“If you look at our trusses there are no places for birds to roost because they are curved,” said Krost.
The reason for that, he said, is the “Riggins design.”
“The community is a lot better off having Dean Riggins as part of the community,” said Krost. “Tens of thousands of people are somehow affected by what he did for them.”
