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Contact: Jenni Brockman Phone: 804-443-3357 Fax: 804-443-6781 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tappahannock (December 23, 2002) - The Rev. Ann Reeder Riggs, St. Margaret's School chaplain since 1992, celebrated the tenth anniversary of her ordination to the priesthood at a special chapel service last week. She has served St. Margaret's longer than any other priest and has enjoyed a tenure exceeding that of almost every school chaplain in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. 
Photo left:
The Rev. Ann Reeder Riggs (seated) recently celebrated 10 years in the priesthood. She is shown here with Head of School Margaret R. Broad (left) and Annual Fund Director Jenni Booker (right). As a student, the latter carried the school banner at Riggs' 1992 ordination service.
"Generations of students, teachers and families have had the privilege of Chaplain Riggs' powerful spiritual guidance as they have searched for or lived through their own life's work," said Head of School Margaret R. Broad. "Hers are the words that have helped us wrestle with the hardest issues: illness; war; personal, family and national tragedies. They have also helped us celebrate birthdays, confirmations, and now the marriages of her former students and the christening of their children." The road that brought Riggs to SMS began with the death of her husband, Scott, in 1983. She had moved around the country and world with his military career, raising daughters Virginia and Dorothea as he attained the rank of Army colonel. With her children grown and her husband gone, Riggs wanted to do more with her nursing training and enrolled at George Mason University. "God spoke to me during a chemistry placement test," she said. "I had spent all my time memorizing the periodic table, and there it was on the wall. All of the other students brought calculators with them and I didn't. I looked around and thought: 'What am I doing here?'" She then was able to tell a guidance counselor the words she had been afraid to say: "I want to be an Episcopal priest." Riggs changed her course of study, completed a bachelor's degree from George Mason and matriculated at the Yale University School of Divinity. She graduated in 1992 with two preaching awards and joined the St. Margaret's faculty as a deacon that August. The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of Virginia, ordained her a priest on December 16, 1992 in the Washington National Cathedral. In addition to pastoring the St. Margaret's community, Riggs teaches three religion classes and serves on the school's administrative cabinet. Her leadership has been recognized by her designation as Acting Head of School during Broad's three-month sabbatical in 2000, and by her selection to serve in the Office of the Bishop when the Episcopal Diocese's three bishops attended a six-week conference in England in 1999. Riggs also sits on three commissions of the Diocese of Virginia and has served as a member of the Berkeley/Yale Divinity School's alumni board. |
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