HFA Scholarship Committee Announces Two 2015 Recipients
Neocles “Nikko” Higdon, of Carmichael, California, and Morgan Nuckols, of Mesa, Arizona, have been chosen to receive $1000.00 each to pursue their studies at universities this fall. Both have excellent academic records and were highly recommended.
Neocles Higdon, Carmichael, CA
The son of Christopher Larry and Maria Higdon, Neocles was nominated by HFA member Dave Higdon, of Sacramento. He has completed his freshman year at California State University at Sacramento with the goal of earning a B.S. in Business Administration. He would like to specialize in sports marketing or accounting and perhaps obtain a position with a professional sports team. He was on the golf team in high school, earning the Most Valuable Player award his freshman year. He continued to improve his game and helped his team go to the playoffs three straight years.
Neocles is also an accomplished Greek folk dancer and is proud that his group placed second in one competition in Anaheim, CA in 2013 and third in the competitions in 2014 and 2015. For the past two summers he worked as a warehouse assistant and mover at his family’s firm, California Moving Systems, and he hopes to get a job on the Sacramento State campus this coming year to help with college expenses.
Morgan Nuckols, Mesa, AZ
Morgan Nuckols is the second member of her immediate family to receive a Higdon scholarship award. Her older sister, Lauren Nuckols, was awarded the funds in 2011. And like Lauren, Morgan has been accepted at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Morgan is the daughter of Bryan and Marguerite Matthews Nuckols, of Mesa, AZ. She was nominated by her grandmother, Nola Higdon Matthews, a member of the HFA, of Mesa, AZ. A talented creative writer, Morgan would like to be a well-respected author of fiction and non-fiction one day. “Through novels and stories of every genre and for every audience, I want to bring back a love of reading as a means of escape and enjoyment,” she writes.
At Brigham Young she plans to major in English to develop her writing talents, and she will minor in history “to gain more insight into the world I long to write about,” as she puts it.
Higdonville, NC Genealogy:
Both Neocles Higdon and Morgan Nuckols are descended from a son of William Huffman Higdon (September 14, 1816-May 5, 1903) and Jane Buchanan Higdon (September 18, 1814-March 12, 1891) of Higdonville, Macon County, North Carolina.
Joseph Huffman Higdon was the second child of W. H. and Jane Higdon, born on July 25-1839—died on January 1, 1909. On September 27, 1865, he married Margaret Matilda Berry (July 30, 1847-April 26, 1941). They had ten children, the first of whom was William Logan Higdon, born on August 3, 1866, died on January 7, 1941. William Logan Higdon married Emma Osborne McDowell (January 10, 1866-March 3, 1922) and had eleven children, one of whom was Frederick Huffman Higdon (b. December 24, 1890), who married Mahulda Caroline Henderson (February 21, 1894-April 7, 1986) and died on January 30, 1973 in Sacramento, CA. Neocles’ grandfather, Jack Frederick Higdon, born on December 21, 1928, is a son of Frederick Huffman Higdon, who married Ethlyn Diane Thorne (1929-1989). Their son, Christopher Larry Higdon, born on December 2, 1960 in Sacramento, CA is Neocles’ father.
Morgan Nuckols is also descended from Joseph Huffman and Margaret Matilda Berry Higdon through their son James Leonard Higdon, also of Higdonville, NC. Her great-great grandfather, James Leonard Higdon (March 4, 1870-January 23, 1949), married Lavada Strain (May 24, 1875-January 1, 1944). They had seven children: Jeter Conley, Pearl Margaret, Mary Irene, Lloyd Maxwell, Joseph Wayne, Ruth Elizabeth, and Jessie Mildred Higdon, all born in Higdonville.
Morgan’s great grandfather was Lloyd Maxwell Higdon (June 14-1902-August 26, 1987), who married Chlover Laura Lindsey (August 14, 1907-February 16, 2000). Lloyd and Chlover’s daughter, Nola Vale Higdon (b. September 7, 1938), who married Larry A. Matthews (b. December 15, 1936) is Morgan’s grandmother. Their daughter, Morgan’s mother, Marguerite Louise Matthews (b. May 22, 1965), is married to Bryan Nuckols. Morgan’s siblings are Catherine, Lauren, and Jacob.
(Editor’s Note: The genealogical information for this article is found in Jessie Higdon Wilkie’s Descendants of Joseph Huffman Higdon and Margaret Matilda Berry Higdon, Asheville, NC 1983.)
