U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, Sep 1942 – Jul 1947.
Graduate of Trinity College in Washington, DC, the first Catholic liberal arts college for women in the country.
Received her MA and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Maryland.
Member of the Junior League, a private, nonprofit volunteer organization for and by women working to improve communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society.
Elizabeth Catherine Riggs was born on 26 Mar 1914 in Washinton, DC to Thomas and Renee M. (Coudert) Riggs. Her father was the former Territorial Governor of Alaska from 1918-1921, and later the United States Commissioner to the International Boundary Commission.
Catherine enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard on 3 Sep 1942. A short time later, she became engaged to U.S.N.R. Ensign Jeter Allen Iseley of Morristown, TN, the son of D’Anson and Mabel (Pritchett) Isely. Jeter attended the University of Tennesse and the U.S. Naval Academy; he is an alumnus of the class of 1939 but was forced to resign in 1937 due to a diagnosis of myopia astigmatism. Jeter then attended Princeton University where he received his Ph.D. in 1941.
“Semper Paratus—Always Ready” or SPARS was the authorized nickname for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women’s Reserve. The nickname was an acronym fashioned from the USCG’s motto and each member was known as a “Spar.”
“Lizette,” as she was known to close friends and family, married Jeter on 20 Mar 1943 at the Naval Recruiting station in Anacostia, Washington, DC.
Elizabeth passed away on 19 May 1957 at Princeton Hospital in Plainsboro, NJ at the age of 42. She left five children and her mother to mourn her death. She was predeceased by her husband in 1954, and her father in 1945. She is interred in the Riggs family lot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, MD.