Robert Norman Higbee was born on April 10, 1954 in Spokane, Washington, the youngest child of Gretta and Leo Higbee. He enjoyed his brothers – Ken, Glen, and Jim and his sister Jean – growing up in their home on Ash Street. He excelled in academics, participated in youth groups, and developed talents in wood and metalworking.
Bob grew up in a family where the Gospel of Jesus Christ and service where held in high regard. Ancestors on the Higbee side were in Ohio, Nauvoo, and one was among the original Mormon pioneers in 1847. On his mother’s side, his great grandmother was in the Willie Handcart company.
Bob served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the Vienna Austria mission from 1974-76. He learned and spoke excellent German for the rest of his life. In 2005 he enjoyed showing sons Alex and Drew various mission sites and actively translated for the entire family in July 2011 when they toured Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
After returning from Austria Bob completed a Business Management degree from Brigham Young University in 1977. He enjoyed all of the aspects of college life where he dated many girls, until he found “The One”.
Bob was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple to Linda Leach on August 22, 1977 and they moved to Spokane where Bob worked in real estate & construction. Three sons joined their family: Alex in 1980, Royce in 1983, and Drew in 1988. While juggling work, church service, and family time, Bob went to school at night and earned a Masters of Taxation from Gonzaga University in 1983.
The family moved to Dallas in 1990 and Bob’s professional career included financial analysis for Centex, the Superconducting SuperCollider, and GTE Supply. In 1999 he organized and developed a secure web-based data repository business, which served Alcatel and Texas Instruments with work on proprietary intellectual property.
Bob had a lifetime interest in history, cars, and machines. His 20-year association with the re-enactment group Reenactments ETC and Public Enemies of 1934 combined all three. He restored and owned a 1934 Model A Ford which he used in robbing banks, stimulating getaways, and breaking out of Huntsville prison with as Clyde Barrow.
In 2003 he was diagnosed with cancer and over the next decade he took an active role in his treatment, working with doctors and compiling data to be used in conjunction with his own and others future treatments.
Bob passed away Aug. 13, 2014 after a long and fierce eleven-year battle with cancer.
A funeral service will be held Friday, August 15, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 2700 Round Rock Trail, Plano, Texas 75023. Interment will follow at Ridgeview Memorial Park in Allen, Texas. The family will receive friends during a visitation on Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Allen, Texas.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be given to the Perpetual Education Fund in the name of Bob Higbee: http://PEF.lds.org