Obituary of Sydney Commodore Miggins

Sydney Commodore Miggins, 92, joined the ancestors on March 9, 2021 at home in Plano, Texas after a short illness. He was surrounded by his son, his daughter-in-law, and his four grandchildren. Sydney was born on September 2, 1928 in the village of Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara in Guyana, South America to Edmund and Lucy Riley Miggins. He was the eighth of eleven children. He completed his primary education at the Ebenezer Congregational Primary School in Den Amstel village. In 1944, he started an apprenticeship program with Leonara Sugar Estate as a boat builder where he was involved in constructing vessels that transport sugar cane to factories. In 1951, he migrated to the United States with the farm labor program as a sugar cane harvester with the Florida Sugar Producers Association and returned to Guyana in 1955. Upon his return to Guyana, he gained employment as a boat builder on the Wharf at McDoom Company where he remained until he returned to the United States in 1958. During what he called the “sweat shop” years, Sydney picked and sorted tobacco for the Imperial & Shades Company in Connecticut. He later moved to New York in 1961 and worked for Lomart Pools as an assembly line worker in Brooklyn, New York. He then worked at General Electric as coil worker in 1963 in New Jersey, and also worked as a train car inspector for the Transit Authority in 1970 in the Bronx, New York until his retirement in 1991. During his retirement years, he lived in Lehigh Acres, Florida and in Plano, Texas. He was an avid reader and could usually be found reading the local newspaper and books authored by Winston Churchill. He loved discussing geography, politics, history, and boxing with friends. He thought about gardening during every waking moment. Sydney called himself a “soil addict.” His crops produced tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables that he often shared with family and friends in the neighborhood. He was also a sharp dresser and enjoyed wearing custom tailored suits and fedora hats. While in New York, in the spring of 1962, he met the Love of his life, Margaret Sweeney, on a blind date. On August 4, 1962, he married Margaret after six months of dating. From this union, one child, Reginald C. Miggins, was born. Mr. Sydney Miggins is survived by his two sons, Julius “Tony” Wright Jr., of the Bronx, New York and Reginald C. Miggins of Plano, Texas, his daughter-in-law, Barbara Morgan-Miggins, and his four grandchildren: Celina Angelina E. Miggins, Christina Edwina M. Miggins, Celistina Regina B. Miggins, and Reginald James Sydney-Gus Miggins II. He is further survived by hosts of cousins, nieces, nephews, and countless friends. He also leaves behind surrogate sons and daughters who thought of him as a second father. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lucy and Edmund Miggins, and by his ten siblings: Thomas, Maude, James, Hubert, John, Edwin, Stella, Lucy, Walter, and Swinton. His family requests that in lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Centennial Elementary School PTA, 2609 Ventura Drive, Plano TX 75093. He always liked to say, “Let Progress, Progress” and reminded us that “Education” is important for success.