Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins

Sarah Van Voorhis Woolfolk Wiggins died peacefully in her Tuscaloosa home on Sunday, April 12, 2020. A memorial service will be held at Christ Episcopal Church at a later date when social distancing restrictions are lifted. A private burial will take place at Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama.

Dr. Wiggins is preceded in death by her parents, Robert Nelson Woolfolk, Jr. and Dixie Gilliland Woolfolk, and her husband, Peyton Norvell Wiggins. She is survived by her daughter, Henrietta Wiggins Muller and her husband, Courtney. She is also survived by two granddaughters, Sarah VanVoorhis Manning Muller and Gray Manning Muller. Dr. Wiggins earned a bachelor’s degree from Huntingdon College and received a master’s degree and doctorate in history from Louisiana State University, where she was a student of T. Harry Williams.

Dr. Wiggins began her academic career as a graduate teaching assistant at Louisiana State University and spent two years teaching at Southern Seminary Junior College in Buena Vista, Virginia. She later joined the history department at the University of Alabama as the first female faculty member. Dr. Wiggins was a professor of Southern history specializing in the Old South, Civil War, Reconstruction, and Alabama history. She retired in 1995 after 35 years of service. In addition to her primary appointment as a history professor, she was also the editor of The Alabama Review, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Alabama Historical Association, for 20 years.

Dr. Wiggins was the former president of the Alabama Historical Association and the Jemison-Van deGraaff Foundation Board of Directors. She also served as a member on a number of commissions and boards during her lifetime, including the University of Alabama Library Leadership Board, Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society Board, Alabama Historical Association Board of Directors, Southern Historical Association Executive Council, Alabama Local Records Commission, and Alabama State Records Commission. Dr. Wiggins also enjoyed volunteering in a variety of ministries for Christ Episcopal Church.

The Wiggins family is grateful for her loving caregivers, Beth Hubbard and Lorie Price, and Hospice of West Alabama. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Christ Episcopal Church, 605 Lurleen B Wallace Blvd N, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 or Friends of Florence, Attention: Jill Schwartz, 4545 W Street NW, Washington, DC 20007. Please share online condolences at: www.leak-mc.com.