Meredith Pridgeon Higgins

Meredith Pridgeon Higgins (Meredith), loving wife, daughter and friend, died of natural causes at her home on June 18, 2023. Meredith was born in Tallahassee on June 24, 1983. She attended Gilchrest Elementary and Raa Middle School and graduated from Leon High in 2001. She loved sports all of her life, excelling on the softball and golf teams at Leon High and earning a golf scholarship to Queens College in Charlotte, NC. She later enrolled at Flagler College in Tallahassee where she met lifelong friends who motivated her academically, and Meredith graduated Summa Cum Laude from Flagler College with a B.S. in Education. She taught elementary school in the Leon County School System and then earned an M.S. in Education at Florida State University. Meredith went to work for the FSU School of Education as the Director of Clinical Education, where she supervised and placed practicums and interns across Florida. She loved her job and her coworkers and was highly regarded by educators throughout the state. She also continued her studies and was a Doctoral Candidate at FSU when she passed. As an undergraduate Meredith met her loving husband, Matt Higgins, also an educator and Seminole grad. They married in 2007 and embarked on a wonderful life together. Meredith and Matt enjoyed entertaining friends and family at their beautiful pool home in Waverly Hills, watching FSU sports, and cheering on the Wakulla High War Eagles where Matt works as a teacher, athletic trainer, and coach. Meredith also loved to get in the car and go, and she and Matt visited almost every state in the U.S. Her two favorite vacation spots were her mother’s house in Mexico Beach where Meredith liked to sunbathe on the white sand and eat seafood at Indian Pass Raw Bar and kayaking and enjoying the mountain air each summer at the family retreat on Third Lake in the Adirondacks. Meredith enjoyed gardening and was Vice President of the Wisteria Garden Circle; she was an excellent cook trained by her parents and grandmother Fay; she collected art, especially work by the Highwaymen and the whimsical paintings of Betsy Fowler. She was exceptionally well-read, loved any type of trivia game, and her knowledge led to strong opinions on many topics, especially equal rights for women. She was also a giving person, throughout her life donating time and money with no thought of recognition. She adored her three Boykin Spaniels and fostered and adopted Boykins through Operation Little Brown Dog. She cherished her family, including her nephews and nieces, who affectionately called her Bunny, and she loved her many friends from childhood, school and work. We will miss her lively conversation, her passionate spirit—always ready for debate, and perhaps most of all we will miss her infectious laugh—when Meredith laughed the room laughed with her. She was a treasure. Meredith is preceded in death by her grandparents Sheldon and Marie Hilaman, and grandfather Tommy Pridgeon. She is survived by husband Matt, father Tim Pridgeon, mother Linda Hilaman, stepfather Robert Wicker, sister Alison Pridgeon, her partner Jay Frazier and their daughter Matilda, and grandmother Fay Pridgeon. A service and reception for Meredith will be held at Trinity Methodist Church in Tallahassee on Friday, June 23 at 1 pm. The service will be live-streamed via: https://youtube.com/live/qgrTAPUX5ok?feature=share Flowers will be received at Bevis Funeral Home in Tallahassee, online comments at www.bevisfh.com, donations can be made in Meredith’s name at Leon County Schools Title 1 http://weblink.donorperfect.com/meredithphigginsfund and www.operationlbd.com (saving Boykin Spaniels). Todd Wahlquist is assisting the Higgins family with their arrangements (850-385-2193, www.bevisfh.com).

Tributes

Meredith Pridgeon Higgins

June 24, 1983 - June 18, 2023