Roy Wilford Riegle


Roy Wilford Riegle, commonly known as Wilford Riegle, was an American attorney, politician and Member of the Kansas House of Representatives.
He was born in Lyons, KS on April 27, 1896. He began his career working as a Mortician's assistant in Jetmore, Kansas. After accumulating enough money to begin his path in higher education, he made the move eastward to the city of Emporia.
He met his future wife, Keith, while attending Kansas State Normal School during the 1910s. Before marriage, however, he was called to duty during World War I as part of the United States Army in Company L, 137th Infantry, 35th Division. His love of civic duty and military honor would later lead him to military prestige as a Colonel during World War II - serving in Alabama, Arkansas, Virginia, Alaska, and Korea under a special team championed by General Douglas MacArthur out of the Dai Ichi Building.
Aside from serving as the longest-practicing attorney in Lyons County, Wilford was a Republican member of both the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate for multiple terms.
In 1957, he became President of the Kansas State Historical Society.
In 1973, he took office as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar both nationally and overseas.
By the end of his judicial career in 1986, he became the longest-serving attorney in the history of Lyon County and, quite possibly, the state of Kansas itself.
After a series of strokes and declining health, Colonel Riegle died on February 2, 1988.