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Ralph Wigington taught English 12, Humanities,College Prep, and was a Senior Class Advisor and Senior Board Advisor.
RALPH WIGINGTON was born 01/21/1925 died 10/17/1988. He served in the US Army from 2/9/1943 to 12/19/1945. ( Social Security Death Index - Washington & Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010). He was from Tennessee and was buried in the Emma Jarnagin Cemetery in Morristown, Hamblen County, Tennessee, USA.
Ralph Wigington was one of the first soldiers into the Dachau concentration camp. He lived with those nightmares for the rest of his life.
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Kevin Cloud Brechner
Mr. Wigington was a gentleman, a gentle man, and a wonderful teacher. I felt so lucky to have drawn him as my English instructor. He was very dedicated to teaching. He taught English literature within the context of the historical times in which it was written, which brought the readings alive and much more understandable. I still remember the textbook he assigned, written by novelist J.B Priestley. Mr. Wigington brought us from Beowulf to Existentialism in one year and taught us the literary magic of alliteration, irony, subtext, metaphor, and other rhetorical figures of speech. He taught us that literature contains so much more than just the literal written words. I was forever altered by our readings of Sartre and Camus. My deepest thanks go out to him for so greatly enriching my life.
Stan Stebing
Mr. Wigington lived only a block from my house. Mr. Wigington would let me bring my essays to his house and give me one on one time on what I needed to change and why. I had always struggled with English, but I was lucky enough to have three of the best English teachers at Meadowdale: Ed Pepple my sophmore year; Nancy McCracken my junior year; and Ralph Wigington my Senior year. Ralph Wigington was only 63 when he passed away, which puts things in a different perspective when most of us are now 66.
Kevin Cloud Brechner
Mr. Honsberger was a good English teacher too.
Pat Echelbarger
Mr. Wigington was from Tennessee, I believe. My mother was from Tennessee and when I told him that, my life got a little easier in his English class. Ha ha. He owned both houses on the corner of 64th Ave W and 176th St SW (lived in one). They are both still there.
Stan Stebing
I recently read on a post by Peter Goodwin (MHS1968) that "Most folks don't know that Mr. Wigington was one of the first soldiers into the Dachau concentration camp. He lived those nightmares for the rest of his life. He was a hero and anybody that studied under him was blessed."
Pat Echelbarger
My Dad was a 1LT with the 20th Armored Division and they were also part of the liberation of Dachau. None of them talked about it except after I got back from Vietnam, Dad opened up to me about all he had seen. Most guys kept all of that inside and didn't share. Interesting sidelight, Charles Shultz "Peanuts" fame was a T5 SGT in my dad's unit.
Judy Harris (Rainbolt)
Dachau was a sobering place to visit.I can't even imagine how horrible it would have been during the war or for our liberating soldiers. I'm glad it's still there as a stark reminder of what 'civilized' people can let happen.