Mildred Ware Rigdon

Mildred A. Ware Rigdon, affectionately known as “Millie”, was born in St. Louis, MO on July 30, 1928 to Ray and Sarah Aufderheide. The Aufderheide’s were a hard-working family that owned and operated a small grocery store. Millie was their only child, and they cherished her deeply. After Millie graduated from high school, she attended Miss Hickey’s Training School for Secretaries in St. Louis. There she met a lovely lady named Pat Ware who introduced Millie to her tall, handsome brother, Thompson (“Tom”) Ware.

Tom and Millie were married May 5, 1951 in St. Louis. Over the years, Tom’s career would send the couple to Tulsa OK, Cherry Hill NJ, and finally to Houston TX. Along the way, Tom and Millie were blessed to raise three children: Hayden, Steven, and Elizabeth (“Lizzy”). During her years of raising the three children, Millie enjoyed sewing and doing alterations in her spare time. Later, in her “empty nest” years, she worked for Harris County in various roles. Also, after Millie’s father Ray died, her mother Sarah came to live with Tom and Millie in their home. These years were a special time for Tom, Millie, and the entire family to cherish many wonderful memories of Sarah and enjoy her delicious German cooking!

Later, Tom battled cancer and other health issues, with Millie standing beside him and caring for him all the way until he died. After several years as a widow, Millie was blessed to find love again when she met a gentle, handsome widower, Wayne Rigdon. Wayne and Millie were married in 2004 and lived several happy years together until Wayne died in 2012. During the years they were together, Millie devoted herself to caring for Wayne, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

In her final years on earth, Millie lived with her daughter Lizzy and Lizzy’s husband, Paul, in the Canyon Lake area outside of San Antonio, TX. She had a rich, full live as a caring and devoted daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend to many people. Millie loved and cared for her mother in her final years and for both her husbands for richer or poorer, in good times and bad, in sickness and health, until death did them part. As a devoted mother, she deeply loved and cared for her three children throughout her life. She had special, loving relationships with each of her four grandchildren and lived long enough to see each of them grow from childhood into fine adults. Millie was also blessed to see her three great grandchildren, who lovingly knew her as “GiGi”!

Millie was full of life and developed many close friendships with so many people. She is dearly missed, but those who knew her can be comforted by the fact that she knew she would eagerly go to be with Jesus when her time on earth was over. Her life continues into eternity in a much better place where all those who loved her can joyfully see and reunite with her again!

Millie was preceded in death by her father and mother, Ray and Sarah Aufderheide and husbands Thompson Ware and Wayne Rigdon. She is survived by her three children and their spouses: Hayden, Steven (wife, Stefanie), and Elizabeth (husband, Paul); grandchildren and their spouses: Michael (wife, Keyla), Michelle, Thompson, and Reese (wife, Courtney); and three precious great-grandchildren: Matthew, Logan, and Tyler.

Millie's celebration of life will take place at 10:00 am on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at Windwood Presbyterian Church, 10555 Spring Cypress Rd, Houston, TX 77070; and at 10:00 am on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at Sunset North Funeral Home, 910 N Loop 1604 E, San Antonio, TX 78232.