contributed by Larry Toler

GOREVILLE - - Mabel C. Huggins, 81, passed away at 2:20 a.m. Thursday, June 6, 2002, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital at St. Louis.
    Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 8, 2002, at Meredith Funeral Chapel in Goreville, with Pastor Michael Henson officiating.  Interment will be held at Friendship Cemetery in Goreville.  Friends may call from 10 a.m. until time of the service at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 8, 2002, at the funeral home.
    Memorial donations may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church, 1000 N. Park Ave., Herrin, IL 62948 or to the Marion VA Hospital Auxiliary and will be accepted by the funeral home.
    Mabel was born May 26, 1921, in Lafe, Ark. to E. John and Amanda (Haas) Barner.  She married Thomas "Pete" Huggins on December 17, 1946 in Lafe, Ark.
    Survivors include her husband, Thomas "Pete" Huggins of Goreville; two sons and one daughter-in-law, David and Gloria Huggins of Belknap and Dale Huggins of Goreville; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda and Bill Huggins of Jonesboro, Ark., Anne and John Partney of Van Buren, Mo., Carol and Dan Harry of Pontiac, and Donna Fine of Seattle, Wash.; and nine grandchildren.
    She is preceded in death by her parents and one brother, Edwin L. Barner.
    Mabel was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herrin, the Marion VA Auxiliary for over eighteen years and the Retired Teachers Association.  She retired from the Lick Creek School District where she was a third grade teacher for forty-three years.
    From 1942 until 1945 Mabel was employed by the Pentagon in Washington D.C. as a civilian clerk.  Mrs. Huggins has lived in Goreville since 1968.

Southern Illinoisan
Friday, June 7, 2002