The town of Oro Valley lost its historian and a founding father Wednesday when James D. Kriegh died at the age of 78.

"He was a very gentle man who loved his family, his pets and Oro Valley," said Twink Monrad, 62, Kriegh's friend and neighbor for 31 years.

With Kriegh's death, Oro Valley lost his institutional memory and his love of the community, said Town Clerk Kathi Cuvelier.

"I think that everybody who knew Jim respected him and knew how much ... the community meant to him. He always tried to do the right thing for the town," said Cuvelier, who had known Kriegh since 1980.

 

Kriegh was president and co-founder of the Oro Valley Historical Society and meticulously saved documents from the town's past.

"It was a labor of love for him," said Dick Eggerding, the society's vice president. "He had the patience of a saint. Even at his age, he was always curious and constantly seeking out information."

 

Kriegh was instrumental in creating the town of Oro Valley. Early meetings to incorporate the town were held in Kriegh's living room, his children remember.

Kriegh's son Kevin, 45, said he recalls handing out pro-town-incorporation fliers with his father when he was only 8 years old.

He was "steadfast, totally committed to his values, and achieved change by not being the loudest or the most spectacular but by working doggedly toward a goal and being committed to his principles," Kevin Kriegh said. He and his family live in Minnesota.

 

James Kriegh, who was president of Shadow Mountain Homeowners Association, joined Steve Engle, then president of the Oro Valley Country Club Estates Association, during the 1970s to fight four years of court battles to create the town of Oro Valley.

The state Supreme Court ruled to incorporate Oro Valley in 1974. The town was formed on April 15, 1974.

 

Though Kriegh has died, his name and work to preserve Oro Valley's history remains. A park bearing his name is at 23 W. Calle Concordia. DVDs featuring Kriegh telling the story of Oro Valley's creation are at the Oro Valley Public Library, 1305 W. Naranja Drive.

The library also has large scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings and other artifacts of Oro Valley's past. Kriegh's wife, Marjorie, made the scrapbooks before she died in 1991.

 

In addition to his work in Oro Valley, the Kansas native lived a full life with a variety of interests. But, "I don't think he ever lost the small-town boy in him from Kansas," Eggerding said.

As a young man, he signed a contract with a minor league baseball team, said Kriegh's daughter, Kathleen Buop, 44.

 

He moved to Arizona in the 1950s and was professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of Arizona.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry was Kriegh's student at the UA. Since then, their paths often crossed through their governmental work, Huckelberry said.  He was a great man, historian, engineer and professor, Huckelberry said. He remembers Kriegh as a patient professor who could explain things quickly and directly.

 

Kriegh loved meteorites and the outdoors, his friends remember, and he even discovered a meteorite field in Northern Arizona in 1995, Monrad said.

He spent some of his happiest post-retirement days scouting in remote parts of Arizona with his metal detector and his dog, said Linda Frew, 61, Kriegh's friend of 35 years.