Joe F. Wiggins III, age 86, of Joelton, Tennessee passed away Wednesday, October 21, 2026.
Funeral services will be conducted at 12 o’clock noon, Saturday, October 24th, at Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Pleasant View with Bro. Tom Malone officiating.
Burial will follow at 1:15PM in Joelton Hills Memory Gardens in Joelton, Tennessee with Jeff Tolle, John Webb, Rob Shaw, Lee Mitchell McFarland, and Barry Mayo serving as pallbearers.
The family will receive friends and family at the funeral home on Friday, October 23rd from 5:00-7:00PM, and again on Saturday beginning at 10:00AM until the hour of service at 12:00PM.
Mr. Wiggins was born on June 16, 1940, in Sewanee, Tennessee to the late Joe and Nan McFarland Wiggins. He retired after more than 30 years with the State of Tennessee where he held the position of Director of Purchasing, Commissioner of General Services, and an appointment leading the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. He attended Sewanee Military Academy (now Saint Andrew’s Sewanee School) in the 1950s where he was a premier wrestler and Mid-South champion in 1958. He attended Middle Tennessee State University where he was on the football team and went to the Tangerine Bowl. He later served in the U.S. Airforce from 1962 – 1966. Joe was a wrestling official for 24 years; 1967-1989 and former head official for the Mid-Tennessee Wrestling Officials Association and was inducted into the 2009 class of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He loved and owned various classic cars, specifically 1950s Chevy Bel Airs and was a former member of the Mid-Tenn Classic Chevy Club.
In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his sister, Patricia Karnes and son-in-law Jeff Hendrick.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Carol Mayo Wiggins; children Stacey Hendrick, Noelle (Jeff) Tolle, and stepdaughter Brandy (John) Webb; grandchildren Calvin Sullivan, Haley (Will) Clayton, Madison (Thomas) Holcomb, Harper Tolle, and Karlyn Webb; and three great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School at www.sasweb.org/giving.
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This obituary was published by Austin & Bell Funeral Home, Pleasant View.
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