Obituary of Richard D. Higgins

Richard D. Higgins Peabody--Richard D. Higgins, 84, beloved husband of the late Rosalie (Collette) Higgins, died Friday evening at the Montserrat Nursing & Rehabilitation Center of Beverly following a long illness. Born in Cambridge, he was the son of the late John T. and Jennie (McLaughlin) Higgins. He lived there in his youth, and attended Cambridge schools before moving to Salem where he attended Salem schools. He graduated from St. John’ s Prep in Danvers and continued his studies there Post Graduate and then matriculated at Cite University in Paris during the time just before and during World War II. He lived in Peabody for many years. Mr. Higgins worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for over 50 years. He was an Archivist with the Secretary of State’ s Office until he retired in 1984, then worked part-time after his retirement until 1992. He was a veteran of World War II, with service in the United States Army, serving in the European Theatre. Among his many civic duties, he was a very active communicant at St. John the Baptist Church in Peabody. He strongly believed in serving the community, and along with his late wife dedicated to serving needs of the elderly with the Council on Aging. He served as past Chair for Peabody’ s Ward 5 Democratic Committee, served as a Commissioner of the George Peabody House, and was the Chairman of the Peabody Historical Society for many years, and also served as Supervisor of the Electoral College in Massachusetts for 32 years. He was an avid reader, and wrote for the Stars and Stripes Newspaper when in the Army. A strong baseball fan, his loyalty for the original Boston Braves continued all of his life as a member of the Boston Braves Club and supporter of the Atlanta Braves. He loved Irish Music as his cultural heritage. He is survived by: his daughter and son-in-law, Mariellen & Gary Fidrych of Beverly; one son, Sean Higgins of Maine; four grandchildren, Collette, Peter, Rachel, and Luke; one sister-in-law, M. Verna Regan of Reading, and several nieces and nephews. His funeral will be held on Wednesday at 10 AM from the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 12 Chestnut ST. location, followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 AM in St. John’ s Church, Peabody to which relatives and friends are kindly invited. The visitation will be from 10 to 10:40 AM on Wednesday. Burial with Military Honors will be in Puritan Lawn Memorial Park, Peabody. -30-