In memoriam: Eleanor Rigdon, 1923-2018 in shortening the lines of students at registration, which often stretched three blocks long.” While working in the Registrar’s, she volunteered to help out in the Duplicating Office. Charlie White, professor emeritus of history, arrived on campus in 1952 and recalled Ms. Rigdon’s contributions. “I believe she was the entire Duplicating Office,” he said. “The entire faculty was reliant on her for class handouts, syllabi, and photos.” Professor White also recalled Ms. Rigdon’s work in the Mathematics Resources Lab. “Eleanor had an extensive games collection, and she invented games and puzzles for the lab, frequently using physical objects—blocks of wood or colored paper—that illustrated mathematical principles,” he recalled. The 2003 Hooter article said that she continued to work in the lab “three or four days a week, and she has provided individual help to at least 13,500 students.” Her golf legacy includes winning the Eastmoreland Club Championship in 1973 and qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship three times. She excelled in tournament play through the 1980s, winning tournaments in Oregon, Washington, and Nevada, including the Women’s City Tournament at Eastmoreland. Ms. Rigdon started a golf tournament for senior women, The Vintage Classic, which drew more than 200 players annually. According to The Hooter, the tournament featured a scoring system, devised by Ms. Rigdon, that “takes the pressure off golfers and minimizes the embarrassment of a flubbed hole." The article on the Eastmoreland 100 website mentioned that many years after moving to Portland, Ms. Rigdon returned to her birthplace, Little Falls, for a visit. “Wanting to play the course where she began her golfing life,” the article related, “she called the pro shop for a tee time. A tournament was scheduled that day, so Eleanor decided to sign up.” “‘I won! It felt like a full circle, as this was the same course where I won my first tournament as a 13-year-old.’” Ms. Rigdon was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Lucy Little Milner; and a brother, George Little. She is survived by a sister, Catherine Little. An informal memorial for Ms. Rigdon will be held on February 11. Email Sylvia Giroux at sylviag@pdx.edu for details. —Doug Swanson —Photograph from Portland State University archives ELEANOR RIGDON, who served Portland State in the Registrar’s Office, Department of Mathematics, and the Duplicating Office, died December 9 at age 95. Ms. Rigdon was born in Little Falls, Minnesota, on February 19, 1923, to Nora and Walter Frances. She was one of four children. She started playing golf as an adolescent, and in 1940, while on a vacation trip to Portland with her family, she discovered Eastmoreland Golf Course. “It was the prettiest course I had even seen,” she said in a 2017 article by Patsy Pitts on the Eastmoreland 100 Golf History Project website, which commemorates 100 years of public golf in Portland. “I decided then and there I wanted to play it for the rest of my life.” Following high school graduation, Ms. Rigdon attended St. Cloud State Teachers College (now St. Cloud State University) for a year. In 1942 she moved to Portland to work in the shipyards as a crane operator. She married in 1950 and later divorced. She joined the Portland State Registrar’s Office in 1950, when the institution, known informally as Vanport College, was located in the old Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation building on North Burgard Street. She began taking courses toward a degree, completing a bachelor’s in 1965 and a master’s in 1978. She taught grades two through eight in the North Clackamas School District, then returned to Portland State after she retired in 1985. Ms. Rigdon was profiled in the May 2003 edition of The Hooter (the predecessor of the RAPS Sheet), when she was honored with the Outstanding Retiree Award. The article said that Stephen Epler, the founder of Portland State, hired Ms. Rigdon. “Epler sensed her great potential as a hard worker and great innovator,” the article said. “She quickly became indispensable in the (registrar’s) office and was instrumental 4
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