2022-09-25 07:00:00
Roynel Fitzgerald Wiggins, 90, of Ruidoso and Roswell passed away peacefully at her home on September 19, 2022 in Roswell, New Mexico. Private cemetery services have been held for the family at South Park Cemetery by LaGrone Funeral Chapel.
Roynel was born into a pioneer ranching family near Plains, Texas on July 15, 1932. She attended Plains High School and later Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas. As a young woman, she excelled as a rodeo cowgirl. She competed in rodeo events around the South West as well as several day shift horse match races at Ruidoso Downs racecourse in the late 1940s. She never shied away from competing with the boys. One of his favorite memories was winning a bullfighting competition in West Texas and having the belt buckle to prove it. After college, she moved to Arizona where she successfully owned and operated the Pinta and Black Rock Ranches as well as the Coral Bar and Nightclub along Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona. His nightclub was well known for having western swing bands such as Bob Wills, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson and others stopping on the way to Las Vegas, Nevada. Roynel had strong ties to the Navajo community in northern Arizona. She had a deep love and respect for their traditions and beliefs. During this time she took in a number of Navajo children on her ranch and later provided for their education. In the early 1960s, Roynel met Walt Wiggins, Sr., at Ruidoso Downs Racecourse where Walt worked as a track manager. They were soon married in Vinita, Oklahoma on April 30, 1963. In 1969, the couple moved to Roswell after purchasing a farm and ranch north of town. Populated with Hereford cattle, the ranch has shown great promise as a place to raise their three children. Always up for a challenge, the same year the couple recognized the need for a new quarter horse racing magazine and soon co-founded Quarter Racing World in Roswell, New Mexico. They eventually renamed Speedhorse magazine and moved the business to Oklahoma in 1976. A few years later they sold Speedhorse magazine which remains a premier publication in the racehorse industry. In the early 1980s, the Wiggins followed their hearts into the art business, starting the Wiggins Fine Art Gallery in Roswell, New Mexico. In 1984 they moved the gallery to Ruidoso before finally settling on historic Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. During this time, Roynel studied art restoration in San Francisco, California and Darmstadt, Germany. She eventually became one of the leading experts in the restoration and appraisal of artwork in the Southwest. Roynel has assisted her husband on many art-oriented books as well as gallery affairs. After his death in 1992, she sold the gallery and moved back to their family home in Ruidoso where she worked as an art appraiser and restoration expert. Roynel was a member of the Roswell Easel Club and a founding member of the CowBelles of New Mexico. She had many hobbies. In 1996, she joined the Cree Meadows Country Club in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Within a few years, she won the 9-hole district championship in women’s golf which she repeated eight times. Other hobbies included pottery, porcelain painting, oil painting, and collecting Native American artifacts, jewelry, and antiques while traveling. Roynel was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She taught all of her children how to love, pray, bond, ride, drive, fight, hunt, laugh, forgive, and succeed in life. She was predeceased by her parents Roy and Lucia Fitzgerald, her husband, Walt Wiggins Sr., and eight siblings. She is survived by her younger sister, Annie Jackson (JT); son, Walt Wiggins, Jr. (Vicki); son, Kim Wiggins (Maria); daughter, Lisa Wiggins Lester; ten grandchildren: Riley Wiggins Law (Jonathan), Jordan Wiggins, Rebekah Wiggins-Crowley (Kenny), Mona Wiggins, Gianna Wiggins, Elisha Wiggins, Eden Wiggins, James Lester Jr. (deceased), Jennifer Lester Atkinson (James), Ashley Marin (Zeke); six great-grandchildren: Annika Law, Brent Atkinson, Vance Atkinson, Mason Atkinson, Vivian Jackson, Savannah Gonzales.
Arrangements are the personal responsibility of LaGrone Funeral Chapel. Online condolences can be made at www.lagronefuneralchapels.com
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