Alda Frances Whitfield Higdon

Posted on November 28, 2018

Alda Frances Whitfield Higdon died Nov. 20, 2018, at age 87. Alda was born Jan. 1, 1931, in Perry, to a homemaker who in her later years became a noted area historian and columnist, and an assistant postmaster who was also an avid woodworker, sportsman and gardener.

Alda graduated from Taylor County High School and briefly attended secretarial school in Jacksonville before marrying the “handsome rascal” Ebb Higdon, whose job with the Army Corps of Engineers took her from the prickly heat of North Florida to the frosty cold of Fairbanks, Alaska, and later to Newfoundland, Canada; Orlando; Fort Benning, Ga.; and Fort Stewart, Ga. After Ebb’s retirement in 1965, the family, now numbering five children, moved to Reidsville, Ga. Alda lived in Reidsville until January 2014 when, due to injuries from an accident, she joined her daughter Margaret and son-in-law, Micky, in Decatur, Ga.

Alda’s life was distinguished by an extraordinary range of talents, strong friendships, laughter (often at herself), service and devotion. Her love of words became evident when, as a child, she signed her infant brother up for a library card so she could check out his allotment of books as well as hers. As a stay-at-home mom for the first 16 years of her married life, she filled her home with good food, simple fun, books, poetry, arts and crafts, music and humor. She always had one or more dogs and cats, and she kept her birdfeeder stocked. She became accomplished at everything to which she turned her hand, and she could sew and embroider; refinish and upholster furniture; draw and paint; garden inside and out; arrange flowers; write and recite poetry; and play the piano, autoharp,and organ. Alda co-founded the annual “Reidsville Sidewalk Hobby Show” in 1969, which eventually became the Wiregrass Trail Festival. For about 60 years, wherever Alda attended church, she played piano or organ for morning and evening services as well as children’s, youth, and adult choirs, with her longest engagement — 39 years — on the organ bench at Reidsville United Methodist Church. She was also in demand for countless weddings and funeral services over the years. She served as coordinator of church communications, as well as co-church historian, and chairman of “60 More or Less.” She tirelessly sifted through public records and church archives to help with the publication of local and church histories. Where Alda was capable, she was also willing when it came to things that needed to be done in service to her church and community.

Professionally, Alda entered the workforce in 1967 as a legal secretary in the district attorney’s office. In the mid `70s, she worked for a law firm in Claxton, Ga. Then, after earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice in her 40s, Alda became the first woman to serve as a counselor at the Georgia State Prison. She later became the “library lady” at Roger’s Correctional Facility, where she continued to counsel prisoners in a different capacity. In retirement, Alda slowed down only a little — first working part-time at the local library and later working as a copyeditor for The Tattnall Journal, and she continued to serve as church organist until her accident in 2013. For more than 20 years, Alda wrote a weekly column for the “TJ,” sharing her stories and interests with local readers.

Alda is preceded in death by: her parents, Richard Lorenzo Whitfield and Mary Lou Malone Whitfield, and a brother, Benjamin Thomas Whitfield.

She is survived by: her five children, Mary Harmon of Mt. Dora, Fla., Mark Higdon of Yulee, Fla., Margaret Tate (Micky) of Decatur, Ga., Gay Higdon of Reidsville, Ga., and Jill Doss (Terry) of Leesburg, Fla.; four grandchildren, Dallas Brogden of Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Miles Harmon of Ocala, Fla., Chaney Tate (Jason) Waddell of Franklin, Tenn., and Marci Tate (Ryan) Davis of Atlanta, Ga.; and six great-grandchildren.

Alda is also survived by her brother, Richard Lorenzo (Diane) Whitfield Jr., and her sister, Penelope Ida Whitfield Dixon.

A memorial service will be held at the Reidsville United Methodist Church on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 11:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Reidsville United Methodist Church Music Ministry or the Save the Music Foundation.