Maryland Homeowners' Association, Inc.

E-Communicator
For Homeowners in Condominiums, Cooperatives, and Homeowner Associations in Maryland

 

July 22, 2014
 

Celebrating the Life of Patricia Wigginton

Patricia Wigginton passed away on July 11, 2014. She was a Board member of the Maryland Homeowners Association (MHA) since 1992 and editor of MHA’s Communicator newsletter. She served as MHA’s president and executive director 1995-1999 and as such shepherded successful passage of the Homeowners’ Bill of Rights in the Maryland legislature and the successful transition of the organization upon the retirement of the founder and executive director, Dorothy Sager. A Celebration of her Life will be held:
 

Sunday, July 27^th at 3 pm at the
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
9601 Cedar Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-493-8300

For directions, go to http://www.cedarlane.org/directions.html

For 22 years in board positions including president, secretary, treasurer, & general officer, Pat offered information and support to individuals and boards of directors by phone and in person. She organized workshops and attended individual association meetings, CCOC hearings, including running and overseeing individual association elections. She testified for homeowner legislation on behalf of MHA. In 2006 she testified before the COC Task Force. In February 2008, as president of her condo association, she supported the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition’s (MCRC’s) agenda testifying in favor of several energy bills---as well as organizing a write-in campaign among her neighbors to the Public Service Commission on “Fair Utility Rates.” She represented MHA at MCRC workshops and coalition meetings in Annapolis during the legislative sessions. During her many years of service she met with both politicians and government bureaucrats to advocate go od governance issues.

Patricia Wigginton served as president of her condominium association and had 25 years of board experience in her condo and its umbrella HOA and MTA organizations. In addition to advocating good government issues in condos and HOA’s, she was a long-time activist and advocate for children and the elderly---volunteering with Montgomery County schools, police and as a nursing home ombudsman.

As a volunteer in the Montgomery County schools, Pat was an early proponent in the fight against childhood obesity. Beginning in 2000, she advocated for more exercise and physical education in the schools and served on the county’s curriculum advisory committee, working with the county’s PTA, helping draft a county Wellness Policy and organizing “Walk to School Day” in the local elementary school. Her legislative efforts in this area included lobbying and testifying in favor of State Health and Fitness Acts supporting walking as the Maryland State Exercise. She also supported safety restrictions in teen driving legislation.

In 1996 Ms. Wigginton organized her son’s elementary school community to participate in the Stand For Children March on Washington, D.C. In 1997, as a way to continue awareness of children’s needs, she organized a “Stand for Children Book Drive” which has become an annual event for Ashburton Elementary and North Bethesda Middle schools. For the past decade, the “Reach Out and Read” program at Upper Cardoza Health Care Center in D.C. has been the recipient of the children’s book donations. More than 25,000 books were collected and donated to support literacy efforts since 1997.

In 1988 Pat organized a Neighborhood Watch Program in her condominium community, which was featured in a Voice of America segment on life in the United States. She continued to support the safety of her community and the police department’s neighborhood policing policies by serving on a Police-Citizen Advisory Committee for her District of Montgomery County since 2002.

Pat Wigginton was a truly spectacular and generous woman. She will be missed by her family, friends and community.