Helen Higginbotham, longtime resident of North Platte, Nebraska, died on August 3, 2023 at home with her daughter and granddaughter present.
Helen lived through the dustbowl and saw her family’s farm crops completely destroyed by grasshoppers. She endured the deaths of 5 of her 7 children. And yet, despite the suffering, she continued to love and care for those around her. She found happiness and contentment in the ordinary things of everyday life and peace in her faith. She enjoyed Nebraskaland day celebrations and country music, beginning to plan for purchasing the next year's concert tickets even before fighting the traffic home on the last night of the current year's celebration. She enjoyed all the holidays.
She was born at home on the farm of her parents, Ben and Cora Yates, in the country around North Platte on April 15, 1925. She lived all of her life in North Platte, except for two years during WWII when she and her sister Millie joined the women’s wartime work force in Washington, DC., and her final years which she spent with her daughter in Santa Fe, NM.
She is preceded in death by three daughters - Marcia Topliff, Ronna Higginbotham and Janis Kraetz - and two sons, John and Daryl Higginbotham who owned and operated Roger's restaurant in North Platte. Siblings who preceded her in death include Millie Grosh (Roger), Louise Houghteliing (Bob), Florence Peterson and Raymond Yates.
She will be be dearly missed by friends and relatives, including her daughters - Lisa Arnold (Grant) and Debbie Higginbotham. Grandchildren are Cassidy, Savannah and Logan Arnold, Erica Andert (Eddie) and Andrea Kraetz. She has one great grandson - Sebastian Andert, and many nieces and nephews.
There will be a 7:00 pm memorial service at Carpenter Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, August 9th. Funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church will begin at 1:00 pm on August 10, 2023, with Father Jonathan Sorensen presiding. Reception at the church will follow the mass, and after the reception burial will be at Floral Lawns Memorial Gardens. All are invited.
Carpenter Memorial Chapel has been entrusted with the arrangements. Online condolences and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.carpentermemorial.com.