GASTONIA – James Bunyan Wiggins, 90, passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 9, 2011. Bunyan was born on October 20, 1920 in Greenwood, South Carolina, son of the late Charles and Alice Cathcart Wiggins.
He served active duty in the United States Navy for 22 years. He served in the Pacific during World War II and earned the World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, China Service Medal, and the American Defense Medal. He served in 10 Patrol, Bombing, Attack, Fasron, and Fighter squadrons aboard various aircraft carriers throughout his naval career. He transferred from active duty to the Fleet Reserve of the Navy for an additional 8 years of service and retired at the rank of Chief Petty Officer.
Mr. Wiggins continued his career with the Department of the Navy and worked for 20 years in civilian service. He worked at the Naval Supply Center located at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. He retired as warehouse foreman, managing the supply point for the Southeastern United States, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal Zone, and Puerto Rico.
Mr. Wiggins was a Thirty-Second Degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite and a member of the Orange Park Masonic Lodge No. 267. He was also a Shriner and member of the Morocco Temple in Jacksonville, Florida.
Survivors include his wife, Gloria Wiggins; sister, Edna Lou Wiggins Horstman; five nieces, Jacqueline Wiggins White, Barbara Wiggins Falls, Sandra Wiggins Cash, Linda Wiggins Poe, and Aylene Foster Wood; six nephews, Roy Wiggins, Jr., Samuel Horstman, Charles Horstman, David Horstman, Charles Foster, and Melvin Foster; and numerous great nieces and great nephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his 1st wife of 39 years, Barbara Joyce Wiggins; brothers, Roy, Hampton and Harry Wiggins; and sisters, Sara Elizabeth Wiggins Foster and Mary Wiggins Owenby.
The family will hold a wake keeping and celebration of life between the hours of 6 to 8 pm on Saturday at the home of Bunyan’s great niece, Marlis Morrison.
A military honors service will be held at 2 pm Sunday at the Gaston Memorial Park War Memorial, Garden of Honor Section. The Reverend Jerry Millwood will officiate. Interment will be at Jacksonville Memory Gardens in Orange Park, Florida.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to Gaston Hospice, P.O. Box 3984, Gastonia, NC 28054.
Online condolences may be made at: www.carothersfuneralhomegastonia.com;
Arrangements are in the care of Carothers Funeral Home, Gastonia.
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