Louise Riggs

Louise was born at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bern, and was the oldest daughter of Anthony and Nola DeStefano. Louise grew up working in her parent’s restaurant, Tony’s Drive-In, in Bridgeton. Along with learning to cook alongside her father, she helped care for her younger siblings while her parents built a successful restaurant business that remains a fond memory of many people in the surrounding area.

In 1968 she married Edward Earl “Red” Riggs, Sr. For 25 years they made a life together in Craven County where they lovingly raised three children, Eddie, John and Tammy. Louise was a homemaker and she was the best of the best. Her passions were cooking and caring for children. She volunteered at her children’s schools, served as team-mom on son’s baseball teams, sewed a million dance costumes, babysat for every child in the neighborhood and cooked an absolute ton of homemade pizza, spaghetti, lasagna and her famous cinnamon rolls. Louise could feed an army with little or next to nothing and the food was the best meal anyone ever ate.

Louise faithfully stood by and cared for Red through a long illness until his passing in 1994.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her grandson Bryan Michael Spain, and her sister Angelina DeStefano Godley. Her family rejoices in the fact that she is having a beautiful reunion in heaven with all of the family and friends she has so greatly missed for many years.

She is survived by her sons, Edward Earl “Eddie” Riggs, Jr. (Wendy) of Kinston, and John Louis Riggs, Sr. (Andrea) of New Bern and her daughter, Tammy Riggs Spain (Bryan) of Stonewall; sister Toni Tompkins (Frank) of Bridgeton; brother Anthony DeStefano Jr. (Eileen) of Smryna, TN; sister-in-law Joyce Frazier (Lewis) of New Bern; brother-in-law Alton “Red” Riggs (Cathy) of New Bern; grandchildren, Caroline McCoy (Chris), Katie Wood (Tyler), John Spain (Kaitlyn), Rachel Riggs, and John Riggs Jr.; and great-grandchildren, Madison, Alyssa, Jenni and Mayleigh.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to Stonewall United Methodist Church to support the Bryan Michael Spain Memorial Scholarship Fund established in memory of Louise’s grandson. PO Box 183, Stonewall, NC 28583.

The family will receive friends at Cotton Funeral Home on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 from 6:00pm-8:00pm and all other times at the home of her daughter Tammy at 231 Spain Farm Road, Bayboro, NC 28515.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Greenleaf Memorial Park Lakeside Chapel on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 11:00am.

Cotten Funeral Home is honored to serve the family and friends of Louise Riggs.