Updated Monday, Aug. 06, 2007

Wiggins earns final degree at Campbell ceremony

By Norman Jameson

BR Editor

BUIES CREEK - Campbell University threw a "grand graduation ceremony" for its third president as friends, family and colleagues praised Norman Adrian Wiggins, thanked God for his life among them, then laid him to rest in his beloved Buies Creek on Aug. 5.

Sharing anecdotes that drew frequent laughter and noting praiseworthy accomplishments that drew applause six times, six speakers lauded, teased, praised and told secrets about the 83-year-old ex-Marine - and choked up when talking about what he meant to them personally.

Wiggins was president of Campbell 1967-2003 when he stepped aside to become chancellor as he wrestled with cancer. Messages from around the nation lauded him as a giant in Christian higher education.

Turner Auditorium was filled with graduates, board members, friends, family and colleagues. The university choir sang his favorite hymns, as did the congregation.

Wiggins' pastor, Michael Simmons of First Baptist Church in Buies Creek, said Wiggins was passionate about Jesus, his wife Millie, his church, his denomination and about Christian higher education, where he left "an indelible footprint."

"You can't understand him without understanding his faith," Simmons said. "He loved his Lord. He believed because of Jesus' resurrection he was empowered by the Holy Spirit."

In the intimate moments of his last few weeks of life, Simmons confessed to Wiggins that he did not know if God would restore him to Buies Creek or take him home. Wiggins told him, "It's alright either way because I don't belong to me, I belong to Him."

Jack Britt, Campbell's vice president for advancement, said that despite Wiggins' achievements he was a modest man, consistently crediting his team with any accomplishments at Campbell. "If you ever see a turtle on a fence post," Wiggins told him, "you know he didn't get there by himself."

Norman Ajiboye, son of the Nigerian prince befriended a generation ago by Wiggins and Campbell, is himself a Campbell graduate, and calls Norman and Millie Wiggins "grandpa and grandma." He was introduced to them when he was just two weeks old by a proud father who named his child after the college president who helped changed his life and those of his compatriots.

"From him I learned the price of greatness is responsibility," said Ajiboye, a medical resident at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Ajiboye also learned, he said, that "happiness is based on relationships with people you love and respect," and that "truly dedicated Christians do not die, they only graduate to heaven."

Filled with emotion, the young alumnus looked toward Wiggins' flag draped coffin and said, "You do not go on alone. Part of us goes with you."

Revealing that Wiggins' athletic nickname was "swish" for his skills in basketball, nephew David Courie said Wiggins "welcomed family and friends warmly and everyone was one or the other."

Wiggins was a man of "virtue, values, character and tenacity," who "always led and never followed," Courie said. "He was grounded in reality but full of optimism."

Roy Smith, retired executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina who holds an honorary doctorate from Campbell, said Wiggins was a "Christian educator" who valued the weight of both those descriptive words.

He confided to Smith that one day a great school will arise where scholarship is respected and "where Christ can feel at home," Smith said. Wiggins' poured his life into the soil of Buies Creek to raise up Campbell as such a school.

Smith said Wiggins was a statesman "who challenged Baptists to be at their best and not to waste precious resources quibbling," and that he was peacemaker, often using humor to diffuse tension.

Current Campbell President Jerry Wallace closed the two-hour service with intimate, emotional revelations about his close friend with whom he worked 37 years. After collecting himself in his first moments at the podium, Wallace said, "I admire, respect and love Dr. Norman Adrian Wiggins way down in my heart. I will be forever grateful that he tapped me on the shoulder in 1970 to join his team."

Revealing that at least four other universities asked Wiggins to come lead them, Wallace said, "His purpose was not to build a resume" that would take him to a more prestigious venue, "but to fulfill a vision."

Part of that vision was formation of the first new law school in North Carolina in 40 years, and the first new pharmacy school in the United States in 40 years. Both shocked their professional worlds when 100 percent of their early graduates passed their professional certification exams.

With the outside temperature 102 degrees in the shade, most participants walked three blocks to the Buies Creek cemetery for the graveside service. A Marine Corps Honor Guard handled his casket. Seven Marines fired a three-volley salute.

Smiles outnumbered tears as friends and family from across generations celebrated the enormous contribution of Norman Wiggins to North Carolina Baptists and to Christian higher education.