GREENVILLE – Arnold Riffle, at age 88, is still putting out a vegetable garden on ground that is situated between where he lives and where his daughter and son-in-law (Shelley and Dennis Soward) reside on Jaysville-St. John Road.
Riffle has been gardening all his life.
He begins tilling the garden in mid-March, starting out with peppers and tomato plants.
In his garden are cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, garlic, onions, peppers including jalapeno, butternut, corn, green beans and tomatoes, and squash including a patty pan.
He also had two rows of peas, which had already been picked.
Shelley does the canning and freezing of the produce that is raised. She even goes along with him when he buys seeds and plants for his annual gardens.
Thus, she too has been doing this her entire life.
The secret of success to a garden is the weather, and he has had some bad years in the past when the weather isn’t cooperating but it looks great this year. But, generally everything turns out well.
What is his favorite vegetable? Peppers he said.
“He eats the crap out of them,” Shelley remarked.
Arnold retired at the age of 57 from Wright Patterson-Air Force Base in 1994 with 34 years under his belt.
Born Jan.6, 1936, in a timber cutter’s cabin in a holler near Huttonsville, W.Va., he grew up in Kumbrabow.
“Huttonsville is directly across the valley from Riffle’s Creek, named after Jakob Riffle, who migrated from Germany,” Arnold said.
The son of Cecil Riffle and Janie (Greene) Riffle, he was one of 10 children (five boys and five girls) of which Arnold was fourth in age. The others are Alva, Arling, Ava, Arnold, Mary, Orville, Shirley, Gerald, Neva and Karen.
“Dad was a woodsman, farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, etc.,” said Arnold. “So, we moved several times. We always raised a vegetable garden and chickens.”
They were living in Mingo, WV when he graduated from high school.
“I worked the summer of 1955 at the Chevrolet plant in Parma, Ohio, where Alva was working. I then enrolled at Potomac State College and worked at Alcoa Aluminum in Cleveland in the summer of 1956,” he said.
In the summer of 1958, he said he went to summer school to pick up a class he needed.
“I went to Potomac State for two years then to West Virginia University where I received a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering,” he said.
And, he succeeded with that plan.
He then got a job with the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton where he met his future wife, Judy K. Flatter, who was a 1960 graduate of Greenville High School and is now deceased. A friend who worked in his office introduced them.
How did Arnold become interested in engineering?
‘One night while at the University of West Virginia, we went to WPAFB. that may have influenced me., ” he said.
He started there in research and development and went on to work in technical intelligence,
He was also seen at the Annie Oakley Festival during the Miss Annie shooting competitions this past Tuesday through Thursday.
What does he do? Well, he sets up the range for the shooting of the candidates and holds up the balloon targets.
He is also involved in the local Farm Power of the Past showing off his tractors and machinery and he enjoys attending the Air Show in Dayton.
In addition to Shelley, he also has another daughter, Melissa, and three grandchildren.
He has been all over the world with his job at WPAFB. He traveled to such places as Germany, Switzerland, Russia, France and England.
“We’ve had a great life,” said Shelley. “We went all over camping, boating and skiing.”
