Retired Ridglydale Dairy Owner, Dies
William S. Ridgly, owner of the Ridglydale farms near Casner and former president of the Ridglydale Dairy died at 11:55 p.m. yesterday in his home at 333 West Decatur street, Decatur, Illinois.
Mr. Ridgly came to Decatur from Taylorville in 1910 and was for several years general manager of the Manufacturers & Consumers Coal Co. here.
In the early 1920's, he entered the dairying business as a hobby and in March, 1932 opened the wholesale and retail headquarters of the Ridglydale Dairy farm at 141 North Church street. The business was later incorporated and in 1943 was consolidated with the Burkholders' Sanitary Dairy under the name of Ridglydale Dairies, Inc., with Mr. Ridgly as president.
Mr. Ridgly sold his stock in the company last November to Leslie P. Harder, co-owner of the Taylor-Harder Dairy Co., and retired from the retail dairy business.
Since then he has devoted his time to the operation of the Ridglydale Farms near Casner, Mt. Zion and Dalton City.
Guernsey cattle, and Hampshire, Berkshire and Chester white hogs from the Ridglydale farms are known throughout the Midwest as some of the best stock in the country. Entries from the farms often won prizes at stock shows.
Mr. Ridgly was born in Piatt county, a son of Mr. and Mrs. William Ridgley and as a young man was a teacher in Piatt schools, operator of a hardware business and abstractor.
In 1900 he moved from Monticello to Taylorville where he helped organize the first coal mine in Christian county.
In 1905 he sank the mine at Stonington and operated it in connection with the Taylorville company until 1915 when he resigned from the Stonington company and sold the Taylorville mines to the Peabody Coal Co. of Chicago. For many years he was a principal stockholder in the Christian County Telephone Co. and a director of the Farmers National bank in Taylorville.
Mr. Ridgly was married to Edith Curtius in Carrolton, July 18, 1911 and they lived for several years at 1313 West Main Street, now the home of president of Millikin university.The House at 333 West Decatur Street was built in 1928.
Mr. and Mrs. Ridgly had traveled extensively making trips to Alaska, Canada, Panama, Cuba, Mexico and throughout the United States.
He was a member of the First Presbyterian church, the Decatur Club, the Country Club of Decatur, the Elks club and the Chester White Swine association.
He leaves his wife,two nephews and two nieces.
The body is at the Dawson & Wikoff funeral home where friends may call from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday. Private services will be held in the funeral home chapel at 2 p.m. Thursday and the body will be placed in the mausoleum at Fairlawn cemetery. The family requests that no flowers be sent.