When it comes to community commitment, the Biggs Family is BIG TIME.

Their mutual affection for, and connection to, the Klamath Basin is remarkable. Brilliant and gifted, the lives of Andrew and Heidi Biggs intersected in Washington, DC, in 1999 — where both were working in different professional capacities in the realm of social security.

Andrew — Economist with Pedigree

Andrew, a young economist, came to Washington with:

  • Two master's degrees
  • A PhD from the London School of Economics
  • Polished and pedigreed in the think-tank circles of research in retirement and the intricacies of the U.S. Social Security system

That credential combination is exactly what attracts a young economist to D.C. — the city where think tanks, federal agencies, and Congressional staff make policy decisions that affect tens of millions of Americans.

Heidi — Klamath Roots, National Reach

Heidi — a homegrown beauty with brainpower — hailed from Klamath Falls.

A Mazama High School graduate, she attended Northwestern University for her undergraduate degree, earning a Juris Doctorate from Willamette University.

Heidi was also making her mark as she worked with lobbyists and other legal eagles on an important social-security reform bill authored by Klamath Falls' very own captain of industry and JELD-WEN, Inc. founder, Richard "Dick" Wendt.

Heidi was hand-picked to lobby for this bill in Washington, DC — where she was thrilled to meet Andrew, one of the President's leading experts on the matter.

A D.C. Romance

They married in 2004 and enjoyed the stimulating intellectual aspects of metropolitan life and public-policy work.

Andrew worked in the Bush White House — alongside George W. Bush in 2005 — traveling the country advocating for and presenting on the assets and impact of social-security reform.

Heidi enjoyed challenging lobbying opportunities, attending great galas, collaborating with colleagues who had fascinating perspectives and the pulse of life in Washington.

The Pull Back to Klamath

For a young couple deeply embedded in D.C. policy work, returning to a rural Oregon basin wasn't an obvious choice.

But Heidi's roots in Klamath Falls were strong — and as their family grew, they increasingly found themselves drawn back to Heidi's hometown.

In 2012, they made it their permanent home.

Despite the need for Andrew to commute for policy work, the couple readily embraced the slower pace and close-knit community.

A Continued National + Local Career

Andrew continues to work at the highest levels of American social-security policy:

  • Testifies before Congress on social-security matters (visible on CSPAN)
  • Helped manage Puerto Rico's government bankruptcy and regain their financial foothold
  • Recognized national expert on retirement and social-security policy

But alongside that national career, Andrew has committed to our local community in remarkable ways:

  • Klamath Falls City Budget and Audit Committees
  • Klamath County Compensation for Elected Officials Committee
  • Elder at First Presbyterian Church
  • Drums and electric guitar on the praise team at First Presbyterian

That last item — playing drums and electric guitar on a church praise team — is the kind of detail that captures how the Biggs family bridges their D.C.-pedigree careers with their Klamath community roots.

Heidi Leads the Klamath Community Foundation

Today, Heidi serves as the Executive Director of the Klamath Community Foundation and is actively involved in numerous local organizations.

The Klamath Community Foundation is one of the basin's most important philanthropic institutions — managing endowments, scholarships, and community-grant programs that have reshaped what's possible across Klamath County over the past two decades.

For an institution like that to have Heidi's national-level legal and policy experience at the helm is a meaningful asset to the basin.

Homeschool During COVID — Iliad, Odyssey, and Beyond

Since there were a few minutes left in each of Heidi and Andrew's days, they mutually decided to teach a home-school pod of four students, including their son Tommy, during the COVID crisis.

Using a highly acclaimed curriculum out of the University of Virginia — CORE Knowledge — the Biggses joined forces with a couple of other parents and taught sixth grade using innovative, imaginative, and the guiding principles of true knowledge.

  • Andrew — Math professor
  • Heidi — English teacher

They challenged, inspired, and ignited their four students in astounding ways. Their student sixth-graders:

  • Read the Iliad and the Odyssey
  • Studied ancient Greece and all the gods
  • Were doing math years beyond their peers

Tommy — A Renaissance Eighth-Grader

Tommy is now a tall, handsome, eighth grader — whose manners and poise are impeccable.

He is:

  • A runner
  • A basketball player
  • First chair trumpet in the Ponderosa Middle School Band
  • An avid writer and history buff
  • Two-time winner of the VFW's Patriot Pen essay award
  • Moving on to state competition

"We have deep conversations. I can talk about things with my parents that I cannot…" — Tommy

That's the kind of parent-child relationship that produces the impressive young person Tommy is becoming.

Three Lives, Three Returns

The Biggs family story is, at its heart, a return story:

  • Heidi returned to her hometown after a national-pedigree career
  • Andrew returned with her — choosing Klamath Falls over D.C. social and political pull
  • Tommy is growing up in the basin he might one day return to himself

For Klamath Falls — a community that often loses its most-promising young people to bigger cities — the Biggs family is a powerful example of what happens when Klamath kids come home and invest in the place that raised them.

Thank You

To Andrew and Heidi Biggs and to Tommy — thank you for choosing Klamath Falls, for the policy expertise and community service you bring, and for being the kind of family that defines what civic engagement at the local level can look like.

Welcome home — and welcome to year three of being one of the basin's most committed families.