Barbara June Rieger
Barbara June Rieger of Bryan, Texas went to join the Lord on September 3, 2018. Visitation to begin at 5pm with a rosary recited at 7pm, Friday, September 7, 2018 at Callaway-Jones Funeral Center, 3001 S. College Ave., Bryan, Texas 77801. Mass of Christian Burial 11am, Saturday, September 8, 2018 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 600 East 26th Street, Bryan, TX. Interment will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Lott, Texas. Services are in the care of Callaway-Jones Funeral and Cremation Center, Bryan-College Station. Barbara was born on January 20, 1936 in Lott, Texas to William and Mary Hammond. She attended Lott High School where she played basketball and volleyball. She was of Baptist faith, but joined the Catholic Church when she married Gerald William Rieger at a very young age on June 16, 1953. They were married at the Sacred Heart Church in Lott, Texas. They raised a wonderful family that consisted of a daughter, Nancy, and three sons, Gerald, Jr. (Gerry), Kenneth, and Paul. Her husband Gerald, served in the Air Force, and she moved with him as he was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Blytheville, Arkansas. She loved seeing Gerald dressed in his Air Force uniform. Barbara began working at Montgomery Ward in Blytheville, AR. around 1957. When Gerald got out of the Air Force they moved to Temple, Texas, where they raised their family in the shadow of St. Mary’s Church, where she was a member of several Catholic organizations. They moved to Bryan, Texas in 1979 where she continued her work at Montgomery Ward, with her last stint at Manor East Mall. While in Bryan, they were devoted parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she belonged to the St. Joseph’s Women’s Guild, the Adoration Chapel ministry, a Communion minister, as well as Martha and Mary’s Wellness. They were very active with the Brazos County Senior Citizens Association. Barbara and Gerald had just recently celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary in June. Barbara loved sports, especially sports that her children and grandchildren played. She was a big fan of the Aggies and the Houston Astros. You could ask her the earned run average of any of their pitchers and she could tell you. She loved basketball as well, and would often join her sons in the backyard or driveway to shoot some hoops. She also loved a good game of dominoes. There was not one of her children or grandchildren that did not love pairing up with her in a good game of forty two. Besides being devoted to her husband, she loved spending time with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her life revolved around family, nothing was more important to her. If one of them was playing a ballgame somewhere, she insisted on being there. None of her children or grandchildren had a bigger fan. Her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren always knew where to look in the stands for her. Her father, William, and her mother, Mary Hammond, preceded Barbara in death. Of the seven Hammond siblings she had been the only remaining survivor. Her husband Gerald, her four children, Nancy Ramsey of Pflugerville, Texas, Gerry Rieger who lives near Burnet, Texas, Ken Rieger of Cypress, Texas, and Paul Rieger of Bryan, Texas, survive her. She had eleven grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, two more great grandchildren on the way, and numerous nieces and nephews. An angel on earth and now an angel in heaven.