Video by Pam Stevenson, Agave Productions Inc., for Historical League
John Driggs, some may say, never met a project he didn’t like. He was born in Douglas, Arizona, in 1927 where his father was soliciting savings accounts for the Inter-Mountain Building & Loan of Salt Lake City. His mother’s pioneer parents came to Arizona from Utah in the 1870s and his father came to Phoenix with a large extended family from Driggs, Idaho, in 1921 to make their fortune in cotton. Their plans were quickly wiped out in the “Cotton Crash of 1921,” and the family ultimately started Western Savings in 1929.
Driggs graduated from North Phoenix High School in 1945, served in the Navy in World War II, was a missionary for the Mormon Church in New England, and then earned his undergraduate degree and MBA from Stanford University. His business career with Western Savings was marked by a desire to become involved in community activity. He lived by his conviction that, “A basic obligation of any business is to be a good citizen.”
In 1969, Driggs was tapped to run the Phoenix Growth Committee bond election for the city’s capital needs, including new municipal facilities like a library and theater. The success of this bond election led to his being asked by the Phoenix Charter Government Committee to be their candidate for mayor that same year. Serving for two terms, Driggs recalls that his single biggest project was establishing the Phoenix Mountains Preserve.
Unsuccessful in a bid to be the Republican candidate for Governor in 1974, Driggs turned to an historic preservation project, restoring the Rosson House and Heritage Square. He organized the Phoenix Historical Society during his City Hall days, agreeing to make it a chapter of the Arizona Historical Society, now home to the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park. He was the organizing chairman of Second Harvest National Food Bank Network to address the problem of hunger in America. It is now one of the largest charities in the country. He is currently actively involved with Habitat for Humanity.
John Driggs is presently leading the effort to restore Tovrea Castle. By completing a companion project to restore Papago Park, the Papago Park golf course, and the historic amphitheatre in the park, along with other important park features, it would give Papago Park the reputation as one of the finest regional urban parks in the country. He is also spearheading a judicial project to create a justice museum and a justice education program centered in the old Maricopa County Courthouse. The project will include the Phoenix Municipal Courthouse and have extensive exhibits in the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse.
In addition to his many community achievements, Driggs and his wife Gail have raised five sons and have fourteen grandchildren. As he looks back on how he’s seen the Valley change, he says “It’s like being involved in a great parade of growth.”
Historymaker Driggs biography published in 2005
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