If you’ve walked past Orrico Hall at some point in the last 15 years, you’ve likely encountered a man who, by all accounts, has lived life to the fullest. He walks from Holy Cross Court to Bauccio Commons three times a day, smiling at passersby and absorbing the rare Portland sunlight.
This man is Fr. James “Jim” Rigert. And he’s 91 years old.
Rigert’s almost a century of life – from a Depression-era Oregon farm family to roles as a physicist, geologist, ordained priest and Notre Dame professor – have all converged in apartment two in Holy Cross Court, where many of UP’s priests reside…