Veteran Teacher Florence Staggs Is Dead at 68 : Obituary: One of the original instructors at Saddleback College, she taught business courses there until last year.

Dr. Florence Gladys Edick Staggs, one of the original teachers at Saddleback College when it opened in 1968, has died of colon cancer in Medford, Ore., where she had been living since last fall. She was 68.

Staggs taught in Saddleback’s business science division until last year, when she took a leave of absence. Staggs taught courses in business communication, business English, accounting and shorthand.

In 1981, Staggs was honored as Outstanding Business Teacher by Theta Alpha Delta, a business sorority.

Saddleback College Prof. Linda Rice said Monday that Staggs was a “wonderful” individual whom “everyone loved dearly.”

Staggs was born in Santa Ana to Gertrude and Edwin P. Edick, whose pioneer family had lived in Orange County since 1911. She grew up in Costa Mesa and graduated from Newport Harbor High School as valedictorian at age 15. At 16, she worked as a society news reporter for the Globe Herald, a predecessor to the Daily Pilot.

She worked in personnel at Sears for many years. In 1953, she married Edward A. Wilkerson II, whom she later divorced. At the age of 43, while both a wife and mother, she returned to school so that she could start a teaching career.

She received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Cal State Los Angeles and a doctorate from World University in Ojai.

Staggs, who died March 12, is survived by her husband, Edwin A. Staggs, 63, of Costa Mesa; two children, Edward A. Wilson III, 35, of Grants Pass, Ore., and Niquita (Nikki) M. Wilkinson, 33, of Talent, Ore.; two sisters, Marjorie Haines of Desert Hot Springs and the Rev. Jeanne Edick of Pacific Palisades; four nieces and three nephews.

Memorial services will be conducted at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church in Costa Mesa.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests contributions to a scholarship fund. Checks should be made payable to Saddleback College, Florence Staggs Memorial Fund.