Kenneth Higginbotham
May 1, 1928 – August 5, 2010
The Rev. Canon Kenneth D. Higginbotham Sr., a longtime priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles, died Aug. 5 in Sarasota Fla., where he had retired. He was 82 and had recently been in ill health.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth; sons Kenneth Jr., Paul, Stephen, Keith and Christopher; daughter, Andrea; stepchildren Avis and Michael Hight; godson, Kenneth Singleton; 12 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law; nieces, nephews and many friends.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Aug. 21, at Christ Church, Brandenton, Fla., where Higginbotham served as an assisting priest.
In 1979 Higginbotham concluded his tenure as an assistant to the Bishop of Washington (D.C.) and thereafter accepted the call as rector of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. He served the parish while it was engaged in numerous community ministries including the construction of residential facilities for the elderly and for the disabled.
In 1993, Bishop Frederick H. Borsch named Higginbotham an honorary canon of the Cathedral Center. Also that year, Higginbotham was interim canon to the ordinary for Borsch, and assisted at All Saints by-the-Sea Church in Santa Barbara.
Higginbotham was born May 1, 1928 and grew up in Worcester, Mass. He graduated from Classical High School in Worcester and Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
A graduate of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University, he was ordained to the diaconate 1954 and to the priesthood later the same year. He then served as rector of St. Philip’s Church in Columbus, Ohio (1957-1968); as Chaplain at St. Anselm’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee (1968-1970); and as assistant to the Bishop of Washington (D.C.), (1972-1979).
At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent in Canon Higginbotham’s name to Tidewell Hospice and Palliative Care, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34238 or The Springs at Lake Point Woods Rehabilitation Center, 3280 Lake Pointe Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34231.