James Edward Wiggins (Jim/Jimmy) passed peacefully on Sunday, September 15, 2024 at age 80 in Clermont, Fl. He was born on May 30th, 1944 in Orlando, Fl the oldest of son of the late Opal (Watson) and Clyde Wiggins. He grew up in both Ocoee and Winter Garden, Fl. He attended Tildenville Elementary and Lakeview High School, graduating in the class of 1962.

Jim attended the University of Florida before transferring to Florida Southern Methodist College in Lakeland, FL where he met his wife of more than 50 years, Nancy Morton Wiggins. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Citrus and then was drafted into the US Coast Guard where he served during the Vietnam war. Nancy and Jim married in 1968 and moved back to his home of Winter Garden. He and Nancy had two children, Jamie and Russ.

Jim continued his education and earned his master's degree in business. He had many jobs throughout the years, including testing for cleanliness at local juice plants, working with his dad building roads throughout Central Florida, as a manager for Florida Favorite Fertilizer in Mount Dora, maintained two family orange groves in Winter Garden, managed several orange groves with Mickey Paige, had one AWFUL year of trying to raise squash, zucchini, and watermelons (let's not mention the sinkhole that opened in the middle of said crop), and ran several hundred head of cattle in Polk County. He also worked tirelessly on maintaining and repairing all the properties for the family rental properties in Winter Garden and Ocoee. He and Nancy built together their family dream house in 1992 on a Sandhill surrounded by a baby orange grove that had previously been frozen in 1989.

Nancy retired from 34 years of teaching and she and Jim did what most do, they began traveling. It was on one of these trips to North Georgia in 2006 that she fell while hiking and fractured her spine, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Jim who was hiking just ahead of her had to make the call for emergency services and then hike back down from the mountain with the medics carrying Nancy in a basket until they reached a spot where the helicopter could take off for the hospital. This left Jim with the task of trying to follow where it went without any kind of GPS in the mountains. When Nancy was then airlifted AGAIN from Atlanta down to Orlando, Jim had to pack up their pop up camper and drive home alone not knowing what condition she was in until he arrived home.

He and Nancy lived an active life for 11 years following the accident, and became active members in the Winter Garden Lion's Club and the First United Methodist Church of Winter Garden.

Jim LOVED classic cars and took pleasure in talking about them and working on his 1969 Road Runner. He also liked to fish with his many buddies including Bill Boon, Richard Hudson, and brother-in-law Jim "Gordon" Morton (said brother in law went along with changing his name when Nancy and family were in the vicinity so there was no confusion as to which "Jim" was being hollered at!)

Jim is survived by his brother, Tom Wiggins, daughter Jamie, son Russ, daughter-in-law Lana, and granddaughter Leya.

Rest now Clementine. We sure do like that name, ma'am. We'll deal with the "Mell of Hess" from here on.