By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Island life has been good for George and Carla Biggers. “We like living here, we know so many people in Galveston, we feel like we are all family,” said Carla.
The Biggers have been married 43 years and keep their love alive with a low-pressure attitude towards each other. “We just roll with the punches and don’t put too much pressure on the other person,” said Carla Biggers.
Carla was born on the island, while George – also a Texan — hails from St Augustine. His family came to Galveston when he was just a child. Both grew up in Galveston. They didn’t meet till after George came back from serving in the Air Force.
“After I graduated from Central High, I signed up for the Air Force,” said George. From there he went to basic training in Amarillo and then to New Mexico for technical training. “I learned how to be a sheet metal man,” he said.
Then it was on to Vietnam.
“I spent one year, two days and about 28 minutes in Vietnam,” said George. “We repaired the frame of the aircraft every time one would come in all shot up.”
George recounts a story of a Viet Cong solider who came up to him patting his skin asking why he was there and asked, “didn’t he have a war back in the United States?”
“I knew he was talking about the racial thing,” said George.
After his tour of duty, George was stationed at the now-closed Norton Air Force Base in California. As soon as he was finished with his four-year hitch, he headed right back to Galveston and was hired by Sears.
“I started as an assistant technician in appliance repair, then moved up to full technician. I ended up being assistant manager of the service department,” said George.
Carla first laid eyes on George before they met. “I thought he was a cool person,” Carla said.
After they met, they dated for six years before getting married. Their wedding date is an easy one to remember both chime in, “We got married on 5-6-78.”
By 1984, George stepped out of his role with Sears to start his own appliance repair business. Biggers Appliance repair has been a Galveston tradition for 37 years. “He gets all the credit he is the one who ran the business,” Carla said.
Building a family house was an undertaking George completed. The couple moved into the home he built in 1996, where they savor the island breezes together. “We sit outside on our upstairs porch enjoying our morning coffee and breakfast,” said George.
“One morning we left our food outside and we came back to seagulls eating our breakfast,” he added.
Their home is filled with unique touches such as a soffit above the custom bookshelves which slides out for easy access to the plumbing in the upstairs restroom. Each bathroom and the laundry room are outfitted with lights that turn on automatically when a person enters the room.
Carla works as the executive assistant to the president at Galveston College. They have one daughter, who like her father, owns her own business in Fresno Texas. They have two grandchildren.
George and Carla continue to express their love of each other through their warmth and kindness and in thoughtful gestures such as a carefully selected Father’s Day card or a surprise birthday lawn decoration.
“I was completely surprised when I saw the front yard this morning,” said Carla.
