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Susan or "Magnolia" as she was often called by friends, was born November 9, 1937, to Admiral and Mrs. Whitaker Forcher Riggs of New Orleans, Louisiana, and passed peacefully at home in Palm Beach on May 6 surrounded by her family. Susan attended Country Day School in Metairie Louisiana, and Rollins College, and, additionally, studied at universities in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Aix en Provence, France. After making her New Orleans debut during Mardi Gras in 1958 where she served as a Maid in The Court of Rex, she married Henry P. "Rip" McIntosh IV of Cleveland, Ohio, and bore their children, Constance Hanna McIntosh, Henry Payne McIntosh V, and Ashley Dugué McIntosh. Susan is also survived by her grandchildren Kendall Hanna Corso, Whitaker Riggs Deflin, Bradford Allen Deflin, Jr., Henry Payne McIntosh VI, and Leah Ries-Hanna McIntosh. During the 23,326 days of their marriage, Susan made homes for her family in New Orleans, LA (2), Monterey, CA(2), Palm Beach, FL (2), Aspen, CO (2), and Big Sky, MT. An avid sportswoman, she enjoyed shooting and fishing trips to such far-flung destinations as Mongolia, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Alaska, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Seychelles, Iceland, Mexico, and Venezuela as well as numerous venues in the contiguous forty-eight. A pile of her broken sporting clays targets would easily tower over the circus' Tall Man, and there is a multitude of fish still swimming that attests to her lifelong commitment to wildlife conservation. A dozen African non-big game safaris in Kenya and visits to the mountain gorillas of Rwanda only served to sharpen her appreciation of Nature's Bounty. Travel was also a large part of the Mamakali's (Swahili for "crafty lady") life with Rip. Often with Palm Beach friends, they enjoyed ocean cruising the Mediterranean, down under to New Zealand and Australia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Borneo, India and Sri Lanka, Madagascar, South America and the Galapagos, the Falklands, South Georgia Island, and Antarctica, as well as a few idyllic barging trips through the canals of the French Burgundian wine country. Also enjoyed were cruises around the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Russia along with numerous motoring trips throughout Europe with special emphasis on France's magical wine country where Rip's Officier-Commandeur status in the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin required their frequent presence. Once, necessitating a month's home rental in Beaune to attend to serious matters of Burgundian wines, the production and consumption thereof. On the heels of visiting the unbelievable spectacle of logistics which is the Aalsmeer Royal FloraHolland Flower Auction near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Susan's happy participation with the Garden Club of Palm Beach prompted a visit to the horticultural extravaganza that was the Floriade the year it was held in Venlo, Netherlands. While living in Cannes, France in 1960 to permit her husband's study of the emerging European Common Market, Susan and Rip got sidetracked to St. Moritz where they became enamored of skiing which became a forty-five-plus years passion that was subsequently transmitted to their children and grandchildren. The daughter of an admiral, Susan attracted the attention of some officers of the United States Navy's Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and occasioned tours of the various aircraft carriers and other capital ships as they anchored for their brief visits to Cannes. The 1960 New Year's Eve party at their villa overlooking the harbor featured a goodly number of the flag-rank officers of the Sixth Fleet. There's something special about being taken from the quay to visit a CVA-Class carrier on the Admiral's Barge. Moving from Pebble Beach to Palm Beach in 1980, Susan and her family quickly realized they had discovered Shangri-La, and their memberships in the Bath and Tennis and Everglades Clubs plus the many events and attractions of the Society of the Fours Arts only highlighted their relationships with their many dear friends who make life in this exceptional community so special. A beautiful lady, Susan will be missed.
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