If Major Keath Biggers could say one thing to his younger self when he was just starting out on his 44-year-long career with The Salvation Army, it would be: “Hold on, it’s quite a journey.”
Keath and his wife, Candice – also a Major – recently celebrated their retirement from The Salvation Army, marking the end of their 44-year journey together as devoted servants of God and community.
Their careers have taken them across the country and beyond, providing unexpected experiences.
“I’ve shaken a president’s hand at a disaster, governors’ hands several times,” Keath said. “We’ve got to meet the owner of the [Dallas] Cowboys. We’ve got to travel for official functions to places that we wouldn’t have gone to otherwise.”
“We tease people and say, ‘You mean we get to do this,’” added Candice.
Even before the two met in 1979, The Salvation Army was already a part of both their lives.
Candice first learned of The Salvation Army when she was a coal miner’s daughter growing up in West Virginia. When she was 10 years old, the coal miners went on strike. As the strike continued – it lasted nearly two years, she recalled – Candice said her mother and father eventually agreed to seek assistance from The Salvation Army during the holiday season.
“We received gifts from the Angel Tree,” Candice said. “I can remember having little hard candies, fruits, nuts, and if it hadn’t been for The Salvation Army, my family would not have had Christmas.”
Growing up in Louisiana, Keath also became involved with The Salvation Army at a young age, attending its summer camps. As he grew up, he continued volunteering and providing relief after natural disasters.
“I just fell in love with the work of The Salvation Army and its ministry and its mission,” Keath said. “I felt God’s calling to full-time ministry as an officer as a teenager, and I went in 1978 to Atlanta to the college.”
They met at the training college in Atlanta in 1979, where Keath had completed his first seminary year, and Candice began as a cadet. They dated before Keath left for a month-long Christmas assignment in Mississippi, while Candice stayed in Atlanta.
“Coming back after January 1, we hooked back up, as they say,” Keath said, laughing. “[And] after about a year of courtship, she said yes.”
The two were wed on May 24, 1980. In an anniversary, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthday mash-up celebration, the pair recently vacationed in Oahu. But for the big, day-of celebrations?
“I’m taking her out to eat,” Keath said, as the two burst out laughing. “To one of her favorite restaurants.”
After completing the training college in Atlanta, the pair began their life together as a married couple and Salvation Army officers, which involved moving to different postings every three to five years. Their first posting was in Huntsville, Alabama, for two months, followed by Shreveport, Louisiana. Over the course of their careers together, they’ve lived all over the southeastern United States.
“[Living in so many places] was very, very rewarding – a blessing,” Keath said. “Even our boys, they had no problems with us moving as often as we did when they were still living with us, and they have friends from all over.”
They arrived in Jacksonville in 2019 from Fort Lauderdale, marking their longest tenure at a single appointment. After years of frequent moves, Keath appreciated the stability.
“We loved it, and, you know, it does get tiring moving that many times every three to five years, so we were grateful that the Lord and The Salvation Army decided to leave us here until we retired here,” he said.
When asked what moment, person, or story stands out from their 44 years of service, both Keath and Candice said there are many, though Keath said overseeing the summer camp programs was a full-circle moment for both of them as they both attended the camps as children.
“Some of them [the kids], when you asked them what their favorite thing was, thinking they would say to go swimming in the swimming pool or the snack bars, for them to say, ‘Well, we get three meals a day, and we get to sleep in our own beds,’ was really, that’s an aha! moment,” Keath recalled.
Keath and Candice officially retired from The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida on Saturday, May 18. During their tenure in Jacksonville, they oversaw numerous projects, including the Emerald Harvest Community Garden and The Carpenter Family Marketplace – both of which are expected to open soon and will provide food sources for those who need them – as well as the relocation and renovation of The Salvation Army’s Area Command of Northeast Florida.
As they enter retirement, Keath and Candice plan to remain active with The Salvation Army’s church in Lakeland, Florida, approximately 30 minutes from their new home.
“We’re looking forward to that, and just doing some traveling and relaxing and visiting family and other things like that,” Keath said.
