Ms. Goggins’s utility company shut off her electricity for nonpayment on Feb. 23. But the police found $2,500 in cash and un-cashed retirement checks in her house, Mr. Watts said. “This wasn’t a matter of not having money,” he said. “She appears to have been in the early stages of dementia and not taking care of her self.”
A funeral will be held Friday in Rock Hill. Mr. Goggins, 42, of Powder Springs, Ga., called it a “homecoming celebration of life,” adding, “We’re going to focus on her achievements and the positive part of her life, not on her death.”
Those achievements include teaching public school, founding a tutoring company and in 1972 becoming the first black woman from South Carolina to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Ms. Goggins was elected to the State House in 1974, defeating a white male incumbent.