Willie Whigham

Mrs. Willie Merle Whigham, age 67, passed away Sunday, October 21, 2012, at Golden Living Center in Thomasville, Georgia. Services for Mrs. Whigham will be held Saturday, October 27, 2012, 2:00 p.m., graveside, at Greenwood Cemetery in Cairo, Georgia. Rev. Milton Harrison will officiate. The family will receive friends 6:00-8:00 p.m., Friday, October 26, at Cox Funeral Home in Bainbridge. Willie Merle Covington was born August 7, 1945, in Grady County, Georgia, to Willie Herbert Covington and Gladys Merle Nichols Covington Griffis. She worked as a cook at Grady General Hospital and was a caregiver to many sick and elderly. She married Cecil Leroy Driggers; who preceded her in death. Merle is survived by her sisters, Patricia Parks of Putney, Georgia, and Sherry Burnard of Monticello, Florida; brother, Herbert F. Covington and wife, Lucy of Swansea, South Carolina; children, Gary Lee Barfield of Thomasville, Gloria Driggers of Cairo, Sandra Kisner of Big Sandy, Texas, and Virgil Whigham of Jacksonville, North Carolina; 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and dear friends, Jimmy and Jeanie Bishop. She was preceded in death by her parents, Willie Herbert Covington and Gladys Merle Griffis, and husband, Cecil Leroy Driggers.