David Eugene Higgins

David “Bear” Higgins, age 75, passed away at Iowa Methodist Medical Center on Oct. 25, 2022. David was born Sept. 26, 1947 to Thomas and Wava (Rose) Higgins. He was blessed with three older brothers: Lyle, Wayne and Kenneth, and four younger sibling: Gary, Dale, Ellamae and Rosemary.

David was united in marriage to Joan Babb on Jan. 12, 1975. They settled in Grand Junction to raise a family and had two children: Amy and Joel. During his life, David was involved in many organizations throughout Greene County including Knights of Columbus, Greene County Extension Counsel and the Elks. He was also an active member of the St. Brigid Catholic Church for many years.

The Higgins’ boys all loved to learn from their dad and David was no exception. He listened and learned and carried that knowledge with him throughout his life.

As a young man he followed his brother, Lyle, into the Warner Oil business and managed two stations in Missouri. He came back home to Greene County to farm, where he curated a herd of Charolais cattle that were his pride and joy. After moving off the farm and into a home in Grand Junction, he co-owned a John Deere dealership in Harcourt, Iowa for several years before eventually finding his passion in the insurance industry with Life Investors and Midwest Crop Insurance. In the farming ‘off-season’ David worked for Meriwether Wilson & Company in Perry, Iowa as a certified tax preparer. Throughout his life David’s love of the farm was always evident and it was clear you could take the boy off the farm, but you could never take the farm out of the boy.

Throughout their lives when the Higgins siblings would get together and couldn’t remember a fact about Greene County, they would phone their ‘lifeline’ David, because he was always a wealth of local knowledge! 

Preceding him in death were his son, Joel; his parents; two brothers, Lyle and Kenny; parents-in-law, Walter and Wilma Babb; brother-in-law, Walter Babb; and his nephew, Kriss Higgins.

David is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughter, Amy (Charlie) Riske; former daughter-in-law, Jana (Flook Higgins) Taylor; brothers: Wayne (Marla) Higgins, Gary (Jane) Higgins and Dale (Sue) Higgins; sisters: Ellamae (Bob) Hegna and Rosie Washburn; sisters-in-law: Kay Higgins and Judy Babb; as well as numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

Visitation was Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home in Jefferson. Mass of the Resurrection was Monday, Oct. 31 at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Grand Junction.

Private family interment will be held at a later date at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Grand Junction. 

Services by Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home in Jefferson.