Hibby Bedingfield

Walter Hilbert (Hibby) Bedingfield, Jr., of Vidalia, Georgia, passed away Tuesday, July 15, 2025. He was 76 years old. 

Hibby was born July 2, 1949, in Macon, Georgia. After graduating from Vidalia High School in 1967, he earned an A.B. in Economics from the University of Georgia in 1971. He subsequently earned a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Mercer University School of Pharmacy in 1977. 

Hibby was a spectacularly gifted athlete and earned varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, track, and golf while in high school.  He was named the state of Georgia Class B Lineman of the Year in 1966 and went on to play football at the University of Georgia for Coach Vince Dooley.  In his prime, he was a scratch golfer and was the 1994 Men’s Golf Club champion at Vidalia County Club, where he and his daughter Laura also won the annual Father-Daughter golf tournament a record 7 years in a row. He was elected to the Vidalia High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023. 

While at the University of Georgia, Hibby met the love of his life, Barbara.  They were married on August 8, 1970, and spent 46 years together before her passing. Upon graduating from pharmacy school, Hibby returned to Vidalia with his wife and young daughter and built his family’s home on Sunset Drive, just 3 streets away from where he had grown up. 

He purchased Vidalia Pharmacy from his uncle in 1976 and proudly served his community for the entirety of his career, dispensing medication, wisdom, and compassion from the little building attached to his father’s medical practice. He was recognized this past June by the Georgia Pharmaceutical Association for having attained the distinction of holding a Georgia pharmacist’s license for 50 years.  Taking care of others was his life’s calling, and he was quick to help anyone in need.

Hibby never met an animal he didn’t immediately love and seriously contemplated a career as a veterinarian. From pedigreed hunting dogs to his grandsons’ gerbil, he embraced the companionship of all creatures. The more unique or bizarre the animal, the better: as a child, he once kept a Shetland pony (Tubby) in his backyard, tended to his Tennessee Walking horse named Beauty, and even briefly owned a monkey. Animals who typically resided outdoors were welcomed inside, as evidenced by his hospitality for Akeem the Dream, a chicken who lived in his daughter’s bedroom for nearly 6 months. Though squirrels plagued his pharmacy the past few years, he insisted on catching them humanely and releasing them (often in a friend’s yard as a joke). He nursed wild rabbits, a stray cat, and several goldfish back to health, and he treated all creatures with the patience and gentleness of a saint.

His kind and tender heart was coupled with a somewhat reserved demeanor, yet in his youth, he was known as the life of the party. His infinite number of friends are always quick to share a great story about their adventures with Hibster. He spent years of autumn Saturdays chauffeuring a van-load of friends to Athens to cheer on the Georgia Bulldogs, and spare time in the spring and summer would find him on a golf course with close friends. On winter weekends, he would amble through forests of pine trees on family-owned land in Rentz, Georgia, hunting quail and watching his pointers run. 

He adored the songs “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Maggie May” and would watch The Shawshank Redemption any time it came on. He could eat his weight in cantaloupe or Wavy Lays potato chips. He was a menace at the blackjack table and was a regular contributor to online discussion boards focused on Georgia Bulldog football (after he accepted that the internet was not a conspiracy theory). He was proud to be a lifelong Vidalian whose only years away from his hometown were the ones he spent in school. Growing up with 3 brothers forged an unwavering fraternal bond filled with loyalty, mutual support, and endless humor. His 3 grandsons were the absolute light of his life, and he continually reminded Laura to “take care of those boys.” He loved his daughter fiercely and protectively, and they were the very best of friends. The loss of Hibby is truly ineffable, and the world spins differently without him here.

Hibby was preceded in death by his parents, Martha Munn Bedingfield and Dr. Walter Hilbert Bedingfield, Sr., and his wife, Barbara Witt Bedingfield.

He is survived by his daughter, Laura Kay Bedingfield Herakovich and her husband Russell John Herakovich, Sr.; grandsons Russell John (“Jack”) Herakovich, Jr., Tucker Hilbert Herakovich, and Theodore Bennett Herakovich; brothers William Eli Bedingfield (Ann), David Herbert Bedingfield (Deborah), and Sidney Edward Bedingfield (Dana); nieces Leigh Ann Bedingfield Beck and Katherine Joan Bedingfield; nephews Walter Charles Bedingfield, William Sidney Bedingfield, and Nicholas Hilbert Bedingfield; and his steadfast pharmacy assistant, Lisa Fowler.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday evening from 6:00 until 8:00.

The funeral service will be held on Saturday morning, July 19th, 2025, at 11:00 in the chapel of Ronald V. Hall Funeral Home with Reverend Wayne Racz officiating.  A private interment will follow at Lakeview Memorial Gardens.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests donations to either the Martha Munn Bedingfield Teaching Award at the Department of English at the University of Georgia or the Dr. W.H. Bedingfield Memorial Scholarship Fund at People’s Bank of Vidalia.

Ronald V. Hall Funeral Home of Vidalia is in charge of arrangements.

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