Roger was born in Kansas City, Missouri and was the youngest child of Charles Albert and Hollis (Winfrey) Wiggins. He grew up in Independence, Missouri and graduated from William Chrisman High School. He enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1966 during the Vietnam War, and served on the United States Coast Guard Cutter Forsythia, in the Lower Mississippi River Sector. Roger was issued a National Defense Service Medal in 1967, a Letter of Commendation from the Coast Guard Rear Admiral in 1970, and was honorably discharged in 1972, with the rank of Boatswain's Mate First Class, Petty Officer First Class.
Roger lived in Memphis, Tennessee for 45 years and worked as a shift supervisor at Georgia-Pacific. He later retired in Lewisburg, Mississippi with his wife, Ellen, where he spent his time playing computer games, chatting online with friends from New York to New Zealand, driving his golf cart, and outings with his family.
Roger was preceded in death by beloved wife, Ellen (Brooks) Albert; his father and step-mother, Charles & Pearl (Hubbard) Albert, of Ivy Bend, Missouri; his mother and step-father, Hollis (Winfrey) and Wallace Wiggins, of Phoenix, Arizona; and his mother-in-law, Martha MaeEllen Brooks, of Byhalia, Mississippi. He is survived by his daughter, Carla Brooks of Lewisburg, his daughter & son-in-law, Kenneth and Tracie Gatewood of Olive Branch; his grandson, Atley Hayden Snyder; his granddaughter, Morgan (Joshua) Gatewood Slade; his grandson, Kyle Gatewood; his great-granddaughter, Emma Gatewood; and his sisters & brothers-in-law, Linda Siler of Hernando, Lawanda Sisco of Byhalia, Francis and Mary Ables of Byhalia, Dorothy and Robert Sugg of Summit, Mississippi, and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family will receive friends for a time of visitation at Brantley Funeral Home on Thursday, May 11, 2023, from 5-7:00 p.m. A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 12, 2023, also at Brantley Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Northridge Woodhaven Cemetery in Millington, TN.
The family requests that any memorial contributions in his name be made to the Memphis Union Mission (www.memphisunionmission.org) or the Coast Guard Foundation (www.coastguardfoundation.org).
