For the five days they shared a hospital room in Gadsden fighting COVID-19, Roger and Peggy Higgins communicated with each other by text message, unable to speak.
And though the couple died three weeks apart, their daughter Jana Tarleton feels their story will go on, in the lives of those who knew them and the children they cared for in the nursery at Gadsden’s First Baptist Church.
This thought occurred to her as she scrolled through tribute after tribute by friends, students, and others on social media. “There were people all over the country praying for them,” she said. “It just shows you how loved they really were.”
Peggy, 70, died Aug. 29. Roger, 72, died Sept. 20. A service will be held for both of them Friday at the church.
“Their legacy is living on in the life of our church,” said Mat Alexander, their pastor. “They’ve inspired people to step up and serve.”
Roger, standing 6 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 275 pounds, was referred to as a “gentle giant.” He worked for 33 years at Goodyear’s Gadsden plant, sometimes on third shift.
Yet, Jana said, he would wake up in the afternoon to coach T-ball, baseball and later basketball. He also served as a basketball referee. His son Eric said he enjoyed sports, while Jana said he earned extra money toward her and her brother’s educations.
“He was meek, sweet and unselfish,” Eric said. “He loved sports, and he loved kids.”
Peggy taught high school math at Westminster Christian School, Emma Sansom and later Gadsden City High School until her retirement. Then, she continued tutoring students struggling to cope in the classroom. Eric said she had a “servant’s heart.”
“If you wanted something, you weren’t imposing on her. That was her gift,” he said. “She took it in stride. She wanted to be accommodating to what you wanted.”
Upon retiring, Roger had a lawn care business because he enjoyed the outdoors and liked being among people. The couple also became a familiar presence in the First Baptist Church nursery.
Peggy would coax parents with fractious children to “let me take care of this baby while you go to church.” They would sometimes return to find their child asleep in her lap.
In addition to being a deacon and greeter at church, Roger had the gift with children too, Alexander said, evident from his first event at the church.
“It was a cookout, sort of a meet-and-greet,” he said. “Our six-month-old daughter Watts wouldn’t go to anybody else. But he picked her right up. They were like surrogate grandparents.”
The Higgins’ lived long enough to build a dream house for themselves in the last year, with a big dining room for Peggy to entertain the family at Christmas time.
Peggy tested positive for COVID on Aug. 5 and entered the hospital on Aug. 11.
About a week later, struggling to breathe, Roger attempted to drive himself to the hospital in the early morning before Jana stopped him and took the wheel. “He knew he needed to go, but he didn’t want to wake me up,” she said.
After Peggy died, Jana received a text message from Steve Gilliland, a critical care nurse.
When Gilliland finished his shift one Thursday, he asked Peggy what he could bring her when he came back on his Monday shift. She asked for grits. By the time Gilliland returned on Monday with her request, she had died. He was “absolutely devastated.”
“Your mother was the sweetest patient I have had since I have been nursing,” Gilliland told Jana in a text.
“She had a smile that helped get me through several days last week, when things were rough. Although I only knew her for a very short time, I can only imagine the many lives she must have touched throughout her years on this earth.”
While Roger stayed in the hospital, the church children recorded a video message, with each child saying, “Hey Mr. Roger, we miss you. Get better!” Described by his daughter as an “obnoxious Alabama fan,” Roger lived long enough to see Saturday’s Alabama-Florida game and have a last visit with family members.
Both Jana and Eric said they would like for other families to avoid the anguish they’ve felt over the last month, for people to have conversations with their health care providers about vaccines, masks and avoiding COVID-19.
Eric said he’s been particularly struck by the emotional toll the pandemic has taken on nurses tasked with comforting both family members and those suffering from the virus. And he’s tired of the endless arguments he’s seen over the vaccine.
Jana said her parents left a mark on their community, from neighbors whose yards Roger cut as a favor, to former students who passed through Peggy’s class.
“They were real,” she said. “You knew they loved God by their actions.”
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