Wiggins, Almaretta

Almaretta Wiggins

Services: Have been held.

Mrs. Almaretta “Retty” Growdon Wiggins, 94, of Gardnerville, Nev., formerly of Ranchvale, died Dec. 14, 2002, at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

She was born on Sept. 17, 1908, in Oronogo, Mo., to Frank L. and Maude Weathers Growdon.

As an infant her family moved by train and wagon to Curry County, where they homesteaded near Ranchvale and Grier. Family members said she recalled fondly living in a dugout built by her grandfather. She attended Clovis High School, where she was active in sports. She taught in the rural schools in Curry County.

She attended Eastern New Mexico University and New Mexico Normal University, now Highlands in Las Vegas, where she received her degree and teaching credentials. In 1933 she moved to Hagerman to teach. She married Spurgeon Wiggins on July 31, 1945, in Hagerman. She worked at the Terminal Island shipyards during World War II.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; four brothers, Archie, Leslie, Lawrence and Earl; a grandson, Daniel Jackson Wiggins; a nephew, Jackson Halsey Wiggins; and a niece, Jo Francis Graves.

She is survived by a son, Jim Wiggins of Zephyr Cove, Nev.; two grandchildren, Matt Wiggins of Zephyr Cove and Shannon Wiggins Rumford (and husband, Aaron) of Encinitas, Calif.; three sisters-in-law, Lois Jean Wiggins of Hagerman, Thelma Rachel Middleton of Clovis and Maurie Growdon of San Antonio; three cousins, Lola Fern Ford of Clovis, Margarite King of Durant, Okla. and Elizabeth Fredericks of Eugene, Ore.

Arrangements are by McFarlane Mortuary of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.