February 13, 2017 Carol Sloan Pedigo, loving mother and dedicated educator, age 88, died Feb. 13, 2017. Born in Sioux City, Iowa, she was the daughter of the late Wilbur Lawrence Sloan and Effie Norman Sloan. She was preceded in death by her brother, Norman Sloan and sister, Nancy Maloney. Survivors include her children, Jeffrey Sloan Pedigo, Susan Diane Pedigo, and Amy Pedigo Ballard; sister, Patricia Herbert; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A Celebration of Life Service is being planned for later this spring in Huntsville. Burial will be in Denver, CO.
Carol Sloan Pedigo, longtime resident of Huntsville AL, died on Monday, February 13, 2017 after a short illness. If you knew her, we want to remind you of who she was. If you didn’t know her, we want you to understand what you missed.
Carol was originally from Iowa, a plumpish beautiful blond, with an abiding interest in film and literature. After graduating with a degree in History from the University of Iowa in 1951, she drove a Cadillac sedan for a local dealership to Los Angeles California to fulfill her dream of being a Hollywood writer. She lived with her Aunt Bert, saw famous actors on elevators, worked as a secretary with other women who also had to lie about having college educations, and eventually met and married our father, George Pedigo. His job with NASA moved them to Huntsville in 1956 where she had three children, Jeff, Susie and Amy, in that order. After Amy entered school, Carol started her 28-year career as an English teacher at Huntsville High School.
When we were little, she read to us from a fairy tale book every night, and did science or applied math experiments with us, including making a Mobius strip with a pair of scissors and a paper bag- like a magician. We shared an artichoke to celebrate Friday nights. She took us for root beer floats, and movies at the Whitesburg Drive In Theater. She played the piano with wild abandon- able to sight read almost any music. She typed the same way she played the piano- crescendos, rests, phrasing. Our mother had a keen sense of the rights and responsibilities of individuals. We were responsible for our actions, and had to face the wilting reality of being fallible and making a poor choice with a mother that had no tolerance for nonsense. She always respected our space, because what lay within was private.
Our mother demanded one space remain orderly in the chaos of our house. Every Saturday she would eat her breakfast on her best dishes in a perfectly orderly dining room. She was a swimmer, a half mile a day, three days a week for ~ 40 years. She loved the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the artist Andrew Wyeth, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the flower amaryllis. She couldn’t thread a sewing machine, but she could sew a lined curtain with absolute mathematical precision.
Many of you may have known our mother as an English teacher at Huntsville High School. She was a sharp tongued, good humored teacher that taught English as well as photography and multimedia. She turned the task of writing a research paper into a science- 3x5 cards with main topics and references, rigid outline structure and no more that 5 total typographical errors on papers written on a type writer.
After she retired from teaching, she transitioned into grandmother-hood and community education. She was active organizer, occasional teacher and frequent student in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UAH. As a banker’s daughter, she was a remarkable manager of her finances. She was a founding member of High Rollers investment club, and through persistent oversight of her income, investments and expenses, provided for herself in retirement.
Although in her final years dementia took its toll, she lived in her own home until the end carefully tended to by Amy and her faithful caregivers. We miss her, but will always have her as a force in our lives. A memorial service will be held in her honor at Montesano Methodist Church on Saturday, May 13 from 11-1 pm. Please come for a brief service, and to share a story and a meal of our Mom’s favorite foods.
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I was in Mrs. Pedigo's Media class in the 10th grade which was an epiphany. Never looked at the world the same way again. She taught me to never accept things at face value and question the underlying meaning of things. In her class, we explored how companies marketed their products through advertising and aesthetics manipulating the consumer psychologically with subliminals. Thank you, Mrs. Pedigo! Your inspiration lives on! - Pat Hughes