Phil Wiggins

ZEBULON - Arthur Philip "Phil" Wiggins, 65, died November 17, 2008. Phil maintained a pure spirit, a sly sense of humor and a childlike innocence through 44 years of hospitalization for intractable schizophrenia. He endured his childhood as an orphan, electric shock treatments as a teenager, his confinement and later cancer treatments to show us all how to live simpler lives filled with grace and love. His family is thankful that he was able to spend the last three and a half years at a family care home in a country setting near Zebulon under the loving watchful eyes of Mary MuCullers-Jackson and Genora Mann. Phil would sit on the porch of stand in the yard with his housemates and be close to the earth he so loved, within sight of horses and goats. Almost every weekday he rode out with Warren Smith or Natasha Springer, his one-on-one caregivers, to the library or the bookstore, to look at science books, almanacs, or dictionaries. All this was made possible because of the newspaper and the compassionate articles by Ruth Sheehan as she followed his journey out of the hospital. Betty Rowland and Carlyle Johnson, with Wake County Mental Health, worked hard to make his life the best it could be. Anita High was the social worker and mother hen who oversaw it all and steered him to a better path. He was the most beloved brother a sister could have. He was uncomplain-ing, tough and brave, always assuring us he was alright. 'We don't understand why he was tormented by these voices, but we give thanks that he was part of our lives.' Phil was preceded in death by his mother, Ann Wiggins Beloff, who died in a New Year's Eve wreck when he was six; his grandmother, Lilian Aycock Wiggins; his uncle William Aycock Wiggins; his uncle and guardian, John Lawrence Wiggins, Jr. Phil never fully recovered from his mother's death and now he has gone to be with her. Memorial Service, Thursday, 2 PM, White Memorial Presbyterian Church, Raleigh. The family will receive friends beginning at 12:30 in the Jane Bell Gathering Space at the church. Surviving is his devoted sister, Louise Wiggins Jordan