MATHEWS - Pauline Phillips Diggs died April 13, 2006, in York Convalescent Center, Yorktown, after a short illness. She would have been 88 on April 15. She was the mother of Judy G. Diggs Hudgins of Hayes and James C. 'Jimmy' Diggs Jr. of Gloucester Point; mother-in-law of Milton Hudgins and Charlene Davidson Diggs; grandmother of James David Diggs of Charlottesville, Ellen Diggs Poynter (Douglas) of Chesapeake and John Michael Hudgins (Jennifer) of Cobbs Creek; great-grandmother of Mariellen and Graham Poynter and Adelle Hudgins (to be born April 26). Pauline was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, James Carlton Diggs Sr.; parents, John D. and Ella Sleath Phillips; stepmother, Nora C. Phillips; brothers, Bradford (Bea) and Glenvil, all of Elkview, W.Va.; and sister, Erthalee Eckrote (Eck) of Columbus, Ga. Other living family are sisters-in-law, Jeanette D. Sparrer of Seaford and Elizabeth B. Phillips of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; brother-in-law, Maxwell Hudgins of Mathews; a special aunt, Delphia Phillips, age 95, of Dunbar, W.Va.; nieces, nephews and cousins; and a special neighbor and friend, Catherine B. Morgan. Pauline was born April 15, 1918, in Elkview, W.Va. In the early 1920s, her family moved to Mathews where her aunt and uncle, Gabrilla and Sherman Chambers, had a home. She started school at Lee-Jackson. The family home on Put-In Creek burned and her family moved back to West Virginia. She graduated from Elk High School in 1935. In 1939, she married James Carlton Diggs of Mathews. They lived 60 years in the same house on Winter Harbor, Onemo, Mathews County. After his death in Feb. 1999, she continued to live there until Nov. 2003. Pauline was a member of Peniel Friends Church, Onemo, where she taught Adult Sunday School for many years. After her children were grown, she worked at Richardson's Drug Store in Mathews. Funeral services, conducted by the Rev. Tom Steel, the Rev. Ed Lockwood and the Rev. Paul Sparrer will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, April 17, at Peniel Friends Church, Onemo, Va., with interment in Pear Tree Cemetery, Onemo. Visitation will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 16, at Foster-Faulkner Funeral Home, Mathews. The family appreciates the loving care she received at Sanders, Mathews and York Convalescent Centers and Walter Reed Hospital. Memorials may be made to Mathews Volunteer Rescue Squad, Box 723, Mathews, VA 23109, and Peniel Friends Church, Bethel Beach Road, Onemo, VA 23130.
Published in Daily Press from Apr. 14 to Apr. 15, 2006