Obituary for Warren Russell Higley
Warren Russell Higley, 98, Cummings, KS, passed away Sunday, December 29, 2019 at the Atchison Senior Village.
Funeral service will be 2:00 PM, Friday January 3, 2020, at the Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home with Rev. Jim Cormode officiating. Burial will follow at Pardee Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Thursday, January 2, 2020 at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Atchison Senior Village and may be sent in care of the funeral home. Words of comfort for the family may be left at www.beckerdyer.com.
Warren was born November 23, 1921, in Cumming, KS, the fourth child of Perry Harlow and Grace Auburn (Leland) Higley. Warren graduated from Atchison High School in May of 1940 and then attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence with interest in etymology and geology. Warren was a United States Army veteran of WW II. Shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he went to Kansas City to work in the Bomber plant in the spring of 1942. He was drafted in the spring of 1944, took basic training at Fort Leavenworth and was sent on to El Paso, TX where he trained for about five months then awaited orders to ship out. He was in the 385th ordnance maintenance company AA (anti-aircraft) and served from June 30th 1944 to January 31, 1946 as an artillery mechanic. He was deployed to Okinawa where he received the bronze star and Asian Pacific Ribbon. He returned home to farm until he retired at the age of sixty-five. He participated in the Kansas Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. on 10/4/2011. Warren was a member of the First Christian Church in Atchison and had previously attended the Cummings Christian Church for many years where he served as Deacon. Warren was a board member of the Atchison country COOP from 1975 to 1981. His hobbies included photography, bird watching, and lapidary. He loved nature and loved to travel.
Warren married Flora Helen Knowles on October 17, 1942 in Kansas City, Kansas, by Rev. Harold F. Humbert of the Central Christian Church. She preceded him in death on January 12, 2014. Survivors include a son, Alan and Cathy Higley, Cummings, KS, a daughter, Bonnie and Kent Rosdahl, Topeka, KS, five grandchildren, Candice (Ed) Jenkins, Tara (Charles) Wilburn, Travis (Kelsey) Higley, Luke (Angel) Rosdahl, Adam (Melissa) Rosdahl and fifteen great grandchildren.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, an infant daughter Lola Velma, a brother Charles Higley, two sisters, Lola Dexter and Vera Adcock.
Funeral service will be 2:00 PM, Friday January 3, 2020, at the Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home with Rev. Jim Cormode officiating. Burial will follow at Pardee Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Thursday, January 2, 2020 at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Atchison Senior Village and may be sent in care of the funeral home. Words of comfort for the family may be left at www.beckerdyer.com.
Warren was born November 23, 1921, in Cumming, KS, the fourth child of Perry Harlow and Grace Auburn (Leland) Higley. Warren graduated from Atchison High School in May of 1940 and then attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence with interest in etymology and geology. Warren was a United States Army veteran of WW II. Shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he went to Kansas City to work in the Bomber plant in the spring of 1942. He was drafted in the spring of 1944, took basic training at Fort Leavenworth and was sent on to El Paso, TX where he trained for about five months then awaited orders to ship out. He was in the 385th ordnance maintenance company AA (anti-aircraft) and served from June 30th 1944 to January 31, 1946 as an artillery mechanic. He was deployed to Okinawa where he received the bronze star and Asian Pacific Ribbon. He returned home to farm until he retired at the age of sixty-five. He participated in the Kansas Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. on 10/4/2011. Warren was a member of the First Christian Church in Atchison and had previously attended the Cummings Christian Church for many years where he served as Deacon. Warren was a board member of the Atchison country COOP from 1975 to 1981. His hobbies included photography, bird watching, and lapidary. He loved nature and loved to travel.
Warren married Flora Helen Knowles on October 17, 1942 in Kansas City, Kansas, by Rev. Harold F. Humbert of the Central Christian Church. She preceded him in death on January 12, 2014. Survivors include a son, Alan and Cathy Higley, Cummings, KS, a daughter, Bonnie and Kent Rosdahl, Topeka, KS, five grandchildren, Candice (Ed) Jenkins, Tara (Charles) Wilburn, Travis (Kelsey) Higley, Luke (Angel) Rosdahl, Adam (Melissa) Rosdahl and fifteen great grandchildren.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, an infant daughter Lola Velma, a brother Charles Higley, two sisters, Lola Dexter and Vera Adcock.