Pauline Rigdon

Pauline Cole Rigdon, age 97, died Tuesday, March 10, 2009, at the Carriage Club. A native of Swain County, born on March 30, 1911, the daughter of the late John Ransom Logan Cole and Margaret Gossett Cole. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Mitchel Rigdon, Sr., who died on October 10, 2001; two brothers, Oliver and Ransom Cole; and two sisters, Minnie Pearl and Florence. Pauline grew up in Forney, NC. (This town became Fontana Lake.) She attended Asheville Normal School and graduated from Silva Collegiate Institute in 1928. Her father moved the family to Bethel in 1928. She attended Meredith College in Raleigh and Blanton's Business School in Asheville. John and Pauline met at school in Silva. John's family also relocated to Bethel. They were married in Clayton, Georgia on December 27, 1932. They were members of Bethel Baptist Church. Pauline was a charter member of the Sonoma Chapter #254 of the Eastern Star. Pauline and John lived in Chapel Hill prior to moving to Charlotte in 1999. She is survived by three sons, John Mitchel Rigdon, Jr., and his wife, Jean, of Huntsville, AL, Joe Berry Rigdon and his wife, Grace, of Huntersville, NC, and Phillip Douglas Rigdon and his wife, Becky, of Garden City, SC; a daughter, Margaret Rose Rigdon Skinner and her husband, James Leigh Skinner, of Charlotte; a sister, Sally Amons of Burlington; ten grandchildren, Billy Joe, John Mitchel, Christopher Cole, and Timothy Brian Rigdon, Marrianna Louise Rigdon Thompson, Amanda Diane Rigdon Porter, Elizabeth Cole Skinner Dickson, Katherine Carter Skinner Doyle, Jennifer Leigh Skinner DeKeukelaere, and James Leigh Skinner, V.; and 11 great-grandchildren, Rubyjeane and Jessie Rigdon, Juliet Toler, Evan Porter, Victoria, Rebecca, Thompson, and Sarah Dickson, and Jacqueline, Alexander, and David Doyle. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, 2009, at Bethel United Methodist Church with the Reverend Daniel P. Stiles officiating. Burial will follow at Bethel Community Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. prior to the service at the church. Wells Funeral Home of Canton is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be made to Broyhill Baptist Children's Home, 111 Sneed Drive, Clyde, NC 28721.

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