Harriet Mc Dougal - Personal Life

Personal Life

Harriet Stoney Popham was born on August 4, 1939 in Charleston, SC to Louisa McCord Stoney Popham and William Sherbrooke Popham. William Popham was a member of the St. Cecilia Society and a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II; before the war he was stationed for a time with his family in Chapel Hill, NC to head the NROTC program there. Harriet's maternal grandmother died the year that she was born, and Louisa obtained the family home in downtown Charleston soon afterward; the house was rented while she lived with Harriet in the backyard carriage house. When William was made acting Commandant of the Charleston Naval Shipyard after the war, the family lived at the Yard briefly, but they soon returned to the downtown home where Harriet spent the rest of her childhood.

Harriet attended Ashley Hall where she was a distinguished member of the French and Latin clubs and president the student body. She was honored with the Headmistress' Award upon graduation in 1956, given to "that member of the senior class who has made the greatest contribution to the spirit and general welfare of Ashley Hall and best represents the ideal of the school." She entered college at Wellesley as an International Relations student; after a year she transferred to Harvard-Radcliffe, changing her major to English. She graduated in 1960 and returned to Charleston for a year; she became engaged and unengaged three times before she left to find work in New York City. There she married her first husband, Ed McDougal, in 1964; she gave birth to William Popham McDougal in 1968 and left her husband in 1970.

Harriet returned to Charleston when William Popham died in 1977, the year after Louisa Popham's death. Shortly thereafter she met Jim Rigney, published his first book, and married him; he lived with Harriet in the family home, doing his writing in the carriage house, until his death in 2007. Harriet is known in Charleston today for her participation in local societies and charitable causes. She has served on the Board of Trustees for Ashley Hall, and to this day she meets with a group of schoolmates who call themselves the "First Graders", as they all began first grade together in Charleston.