Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarFrom Meridian Little Theatre to the Singing Christmas Tree to the Rose Hill Cemetery Tour, Carol Sue Wiggins finds time to volunteer.

The desire to volunteer is something that comes naturally to Carol Sue Wiggins.

Wiggins, the daughter of a highway patrolman and school teacher, said she watched her parents, her mother, in particular, always helping in some capacity in the town of Quitman, where she grew up.

“I just fell into it and figured this is what I was supposed to do,” Wiggins said. That’s what my mama always did, and when your mama does something, you are supposed to do it.”

And that’s just what Wiggins has done. After she retired from teaching in 2002, she casually mentioned to a friend that if she needed help at the Meridian Little Theatre, to let her know.

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The rest is history.

“After I retired and my children were grown I wanted something to do – so when the opportunity presented itself I took advantage of it, “ Wiggins said. “It has developed into a lot more than I ever imagined it to be.”

Lately, Wiggins is busy helping with the theatre’s Christmas production “A Christmas Story.” She’s also in charge of finding props, something that Ellie Massey, the Meridian Little Theatre’s executive artistic director, said Wiggins has a knack for. 

“She goes to thrift stores and other places – that takes time and is very involving, something I don’t enjoy doing,” Massey said. “She is very intuitive and picks up on what we need and goes and finds it. She is extremely good at it.”

Massey said Wiggins is dedicated and someone she can always count on.

“If we have an early morning workday she comes in and opens up the theater for me, and is here whenever I need her,” Massey said. “She does everything we ask her to do.

“She is one of the best volunteers I have ever worked with. She is just amazing.”

Dependable as the sunrise

During the holidays each year, Wiggins also participates in the annual Singing Christmas Tree at Highland Baptist Church, where she attends services.

She’s also one of only five people who’ve been in each performance since the Singing Christmas Tree began 32 years ago.

Wiggins not only she sings in the presentation, she also helps assemble the tree, which stands 35 feet high and takes about 30 hours to assemble. She compares it to building a house.

“Climbing all those stairs to the top was scary at first because when I got to the top I was out of breath, she said. “I had to acclimate myself, and it took some getting used to, but it doesn’t bother me now.

“It’s really a blessing because you see people there that you know this is the only church they get in a year’s time. I like to think of it as not performing, but presenting the message of Jesus through song.”

Franklin Denham, the minister of music at Highland Baptist Church, said Wiggins is as dependable as the sunrise.

“Anything I need her to do she does it,” Denham said. “Besides singing and helping with the Singing Christmas Tree in all 198 presentations, she has helped me with my summer music camp for children called SMAK (Summer Music Activity for Kids) every year. She also catalogs new music for the church library. Anything I need her to do she does it. If she says she will do it you know she will.”

Longtime friend Anne McKee, the costume director for the Rose Hill Tour, said she first met Wiggins in the Singing Christmas Tree – forming a bond as she attempted to teach her the second soprano note – a note she never mastered, but not for the lack of effort on Wiggin’s part.

“Throughout the years I’ve witnessed Carol Sue’s stolid effort as she has volunteered throughout the community,” McKee said. “I know her work ethic is strong and true even though there has never been a paycheck involved. That’s the truest of volunteerism when done only because of the volunteer’s love for the community.”

McKee says she became more impressed with Wiggin’s generosity when she made the time and moved to the Rose Hill Company’s Board of Directors. She has served as the non-profit’s first vice president since 2015. Wiggins also plays the part of Mary W. Shackleford, the daughter of Dr. Shackleford, during the annual Rose Hill Costumed Tour.

“The board depends upon Carol Sue’s counsel and dependability plus her common sense reasoning,” McKee said. “Even with her busy schedule, she still has the time to volunteer with both children, youth, and adults throughout our community.”

Wiggins has also volunteered in various other places throughout the community for different events – The Riley Center, and Stage 2 with Susie Johnson.

She says, like others, she has things she would like to do, “a bucket list”, so to speak, but will keep volunteering, as long as the opportunities present themselves. 

“I’m the kind of person to go with the flow and do what I can – I read my books and do some yard work,” Wiggins said. “I want to do things as long as I am physically able to get up and go do it. But, I hope when the point and time comes that I can’t, I hope I have sense enough to let someone else do it. I haven’t quite got to that point yet, but I think it’s getting closer,” she said with a chuckle.