As people travel around the world to be together for Christmas, a family from Burin will open their home to some very special overseas guests.
On the Burin Peninsula, Carolann and Bryan Riggs will spend the holidays hosting Patrick Dennis and his family—who are from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.
VOCM’s Fred Hutton spoke with Carolann Riggs and Patrick Dennis about the unlikely connection. Listen below:
Their friendship was initiated through a series of events that began in 2001—and while underlined with tragedy, has given the Riggs a deep connection to their little girl who died in a tragic accident.
Six-year-old Siobhan Riggs was riding on an ATV with her mother on January 17, 2002 when their machine collided with a snowmobile. The little girl did not survive. For the Riggs family, the loss was devastating.
Eleven months later, Carolann Riggs received a call that would change her life, and that of her husband and son.
She cringed as she listened to a message on her phone from a man in Tenerife on the Canary Islands who asked to speak with Siobhan. “I thought it was a prank call,” she told VOCM News.
It was not a prank at all, it was Patrick Dennis calling to say he had found a message in a bottle from Siobhan and her older brother, AJ. The Riggs had completely forgotten about the messages put out to sea 16 months earlier.
Carolann called Patrick Dennis back and they chatted for a few moments.
“Then he asked to speak to Siobhan, and I had to tell him the unfortunate news,” she said.
“I didn’t believe what I was hearing,” said Dennis. “I went from being on top of the world to… to absolute tragedy.”
For Carolann Riggs, the reaction was the opposite. She’s not sure if Dennis will ever fully understand the impact this call had on them.
“At a very dark time in our family he gave us a sign and the inspiration to move on without Siobhan,” said Riggs.
In 2004, the Riggs family traveled to the Canary Islands to meet Patrick Dennis and retrieve the letters. They were back again in 2017.
This time it will be the Dennis Family who will make the trip across the Atlantic to spend Christmas on the Burin Peninsula.
Dennis says he is touched by the connection and knows how important this connection to Siobhan is for the Riggs.
When asked about that connection, his answer is simple, “I believe we will be friends until we die.”