Turning the Wheel of Time 

What do the international best-selling fantasy book series, “The Wheel of Time” (WOT) and Trident Technical College have in common?

The answer is James O. Rigney.

The author of the series was Robert Jordon, but fans of “The Wheel of Time” books will know that Robert Jordan is actually the pseudonym of James Rigney.

A Charleston native, James Rigney became a worldwide phenomenon whose works have been compared to J.R.R. Tolkien.  There are more than 30 million WOT books in print in French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Hebrew and other languages, and have been made into an Amazon Prime original series.

Sadly, Rigney passed away in 2007 after a struggle with the blood disease, Amyloidsis. To commemorate his legacy and literary achievement, Rigney’s wife, Harriet McDougal Rigney, established the James O. Rigney Memorial Scholarship at Trident Technical College.

An accomplished editor with a profound love of reading and the written word, Harriet McDougal Rigney worked with her husband on WOT. She has supported literacy throughout the Lowcountry and recognizes the importance of reading in her professional life and her husband’s career.

She created the scholarship at TTC because she believes that reading is the door to liberty.

“Literacy is vital for reading a bus schedule or a timetable, for a job description or a job application and for the universe of ideas lodged in the nearest library,” said Rigney.

In April, she attended the TTC Foundation Scholarship luncheon where she was able to meet this year’s recipient of the scholarship, Kimiyonn Sadler. Sadler, who is pursuing a degree in marketing, is the first in her family to attend college and was chosen to share her story on the scholarship luncheon recipient panel, along with four other students.

“Meeting Kimiyonn and hearing her story was a great experience and reaffirmed my faith in how important it is to invest in future generations,” said Rigney.

In fact, she was so impressed by Sadler that that she decided to endow the scholarship.

“Her enthusiasm and vitality were so refreshing,” said Rigney. “Seeing her drive to pursue her career motivated me to make Jim’s scholarship permanent, so that more students can achieve their dreams for years to come.”

Sadler was very excited to meet Rigney and said the experience motivated her as well, especially after hearing that more students will benefit from the scholarship.

“I loved meeting Mrs. Rigney! I cannot wait to follow in her footsteps and create a scholarship that gives back to students.”

7/13/2022/staff