Richard E. Givens lived a life of service.

He retired as a major after 25 years in the Air Force, during which he had numerous tours of duty in Vietnam and elsewhere as an air commando with the 1st Special Operations Wing.

The same year, 1975, the Lawrenceville resident successfully ran for Pittsburgh City Council, earning the first of three four-year terms.

After losing his bid for a fourth term in 1987, Mr. Givens dedicated himself to the anti-abortion movement, twice weekly protesting at an East Liberty clinic and in Florida while residing at a second home there.

"He felt you had to serve," said his wife, June N. Coyne-Givens.

Mrs. Coyne-Givens said remembering how her husband lived was helping her cope with his unexpected death Monday at UPMC Shadyside at the age of 77.

"He did enjoy his life. You have to celebrate his life," said her sister, Aggie Brose, who campaigned for Mr. Givens and worked for him when he was a councilman.

Mr. Givens and Mrs. Coyne-Givens attended St. Mary's Elementary School in Lawrenceville together and "then we went our separate ways," she said. He graduated from Central Catholic High School, where he was a football star. That earned him a scholarship to the University of California at Fresno, where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminology.

He began his Air Force career, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation among other honors.

He and his first wife, Ethel Coleman Givens, had seven children of their own and adopted another.

Upon returning to Pittsburgh after his Air Force retirement, Mr. Givens approached Ms. Brose, an old family friend and a Democratic committeewoman, about wanting to run for City Council.

"He was the first council candidate to go door to door," said Ms. Brose, now deputy director of Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. "It was a real grass-roots campaign, a fun campaign."

Ms. Brose went to work with him in his council office after his third win. Mrs. Coyne-Givens also campaigned for her future husband and worked for him as an administrative assistant.

Among those with whom he served on council was Sophie Masloff, who went on to become mayor.

"He was conscientious, a hard worker," Ms. Masloff said yesterday. "I also considered him a gentleman, which I attribute to the discipline and all the things you acquire in the service."

During Mr. Givens' tenure, council meetings became the stuff of legend, with arguments and outlandish behavior by the colorful characters on the panel. Political pundits and editorial cartoonists began referring to council as "the circus."

After he lost his last election, he traveled extensively with his first wife and then cared for her as she battled a terminal illness. A year after her death, he and Mrs. Coyne-Givens were attending Mass together -- he attended and received Communion daily -- and he asked the widow, who likewise was the parent of eight children, to marry him.

Mr. Givens is survived by four sons, George of Mechanicsville, Va., John of Golden, Colo., Edward of Greenwood Village, Colo., and Richard E. Jr., of Alpharetta, Ga.; four daughters, Sharlene Murray of Beaufort, S.C., Marlea Gallagher of McKees Rocks, Julia Littlefield of Bloomfield and Mauer Booher of Mars; two brothers, George "Bud" Givens of Bloomfield and Charles Givens of Warwick, R.I.; 22 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at McCabe Brothers Funeral Home, 5300 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. Services will be held there Monday at 9 a.m. followed at 10 a.m. by Mass in St. Matthew Parish, St. Kieran Church in Lawrenceville.