Harold "Hal" Higgs

Yes, he lived a fortunate and very enjoyable life. (His words.) He was born ¼ mile east of Maxwell Iowa, September 14, 1924. He was the third of six children of Alice and Wayne Higgs. The family lived in the Maxwell area until Hal’s age ten at which time the family moved to Nevada, Iowa. He always said his best educator, after his parents, was his junior high school English teacher. With her you learned to speak and write the English language. Her name was Mildred McIlwain. Never would you end a sentence with a preposition. It was always it is I, not it is me, and never where’s it at, just where is it.

He graduated high school in late May 1943 and one week later he entered the United States Army Air Force as an Aviation Cadet. He went to basic training at Jefferson Barracks, MO. He began primary flight school, January 1944 at Dos Palos, CA (in the San Joaquin Valley). Flying a PT-17 (Stearman by-wing aircraft). After flying the Stearman open cockpit, by-wing aircraft, flying became work. The Stearman was fun to fly. Then on to twin engine flight school at Ft. Sumner, New Mexico from which he graduated August 4, 1944.

At age 19, he went to B-17 co-pilot school at Kingman, AZ and at age 19, he first flew a 4 engine aircraft, B-17. In October ’44, he went to a B-17 Base in Sioux City, IA where aircraft crews of B-17 were placed together. He was the youngest of the 10 man crew members and was always referred to as “Junior”. In January 1945, his crew and others were sent by boat to England and assigned to the 100th Bomb Group at RAF Thorpe Abbot in East Anglia. After about 10 days of training to fly formation the 100th Bomb Group flying combat missions began.

His initiation to combat was immediate; on their first mission when the B-17 on their immediate left was blown up by German ME-262, the first jet powered aircraft ever to fly. On the eighth mission their left waist gunner was killed.

Fortunately on May 8th, the war in Europe was over. After hostilities in Europe ceased, he had not acquired enough points to come home so he was transferred to Berlin in the fall of 1945 and flew as an airline pilot at age 21 for seven months for the European Air Transport Service. Quite an experience at that time living in the Russian zone of Germany. In August 1946, he returned to the US, was separated from the military and entered Drake University in September from which he graduated in January 1950.

He began his business life in January 1950 as a door to door salesperson traveling Iowa selling hospital insurance for National Benefit Insurance Company, a company owned by the Watson Powell family. After doing that for three years, he resigned and always said, after selling door to door that long, there were not too many surprises left in life.

In June 1952, he was married to Trudie Van Ginkel, the love of his life. Six months later he started his own property and casualty insurance agency with zero customers at inception. In 1983, there were seven people in the agency and it was sold to Holmes Murphy at Holmes Murphy’s request. He always thought there was fun in business because you always had a continuous goal to reach.

In 1968, he founded a nursing home in Tama, Iowa. He was the co-owner and President of the Lincoln Company, the corporate entity of Sunny Hill Care Center in Tama. In 1973, he was the founder and co-owner of Sunny View Care Center in Ankeny. In 1978, he became a franchisee of Casey’s General stores. He had two stores in Dubuque, Iowa. Yes, there was some outside management to the nursing homes and Casey’s stores, fortunately.

In his forties and fifties he was quite active in the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. In one year, he brought in 45 new members. He was also active in many committees at Plymouth Church and a long- time member of Golden “K” Kiwanis. Politics was always an interest beginning in 1955. Working with legislators was always a continuous interesting activity. Just explain to them what the factual actual situation was. It seemed to work. He retired from the insurance business in 2000, just 3 months short of his age 76.

Yes, he and Trudie did enjoy golf. They were members of Des Moines Golf for over 60 years. They golfed in 14 foreign countries. His favorite was Ireland.

He was pre-deceased by his two sisters and three brothers and their spouses. Trudie and he were parents of three daughters, Kathie (Mike) Sankey, Marcie (Kim) Burow, and Julie (Charlie) Triplett; seven grandchildren, Courtney Sandmeier, Allison Burow, Brandon (Leigh) Higgs-Burow, Alec (Cassandra) Sankey, Adam (Emily) Sankey, Madeline Triplett, Gretchen Triplett; and five great-grandchildren, Andrew Burow, Grace Sandmeier, Jackson Sandmeier, Link Higgs-Burow and Eva Sankey.

Memories “are precious” and friendships are your “treasures”. Yes he lived a fortunate and very enjoyable life. He expired on July 13, 2021. His body was simply worn out. The visitation will be 4-7 p.m. on Monday, July 19, 2021 at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. The funeral service will follow on Tuesday, July 20, at 10:00 a.m. at Plymouth Church, 4126 Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines and will be live streamed from the link below. Burial will be at Resthaven Cemetery.

If you choose to make a memorial contribution, you could consider the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center, the Salvation Army, Plymouth Church or a charity of your choice. Online condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

Livestream Link for Hal Higgs Service: https://youtu.be/8iTIbmCdTIY

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