It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of our friend and former Western Region board member Jim Higgs. A true gentleman and kind soul Jim was a lover of Lincolns for many years and a frequent participant in LCOC meets and events over the past two decades.
His wish was to participate in the recent Western National Meet in Palm Springs, but Jim had been battling respiratory illness recently and was diagnosed with cancer in May. He passed away on June 25.
We will always cherish his friendship and social participation. As a couple Jim and Carol were never far from a good time. They made all members, new and old, feel welcome and appreciated.
Carol is currently surrounded by family and friends and our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers are with her. We cannot express how much Jim will be missed.
His black 1989 Mark VII LSC was a cherished possession and whenever possible Jim and Carol drove it to events near and far to socialize with other members and car lovers. That tradition will continue with long-time LCOC members and friends Jan McNiel and Marv Wendt becoming the LSC’s new owners and promising the prized vehicle a good home, as Jim would have wanted.
Marv and Jan share their favorite story about Jim below:
“We always appreciated Jim Higgs’ low key, wry sense of humor, laced with a hint of sarcasm. Jim and Carol and Jan and I attended the Mid-America LCOC Nationals held in Salado, Texas in 2009. Before departing home I covered the “face” (grille surround, running light covers, painted surfaces above the grille, etc.) of our ’86 Mark VII with blue masking tape in an effort to minimize stone chip damage on the way to Texas. We were checking into the hotel when Jim saw our car (not realizing it was our car, and thinking the blue tape was some customization effort) and commented: “What the hell has that red neck done to that car!?” I had a big laugh, and told Jim how disappointed I was that he didn’t like what I’d done to individualize my Mark. We both got a good laugh.
Jim and Carol came to visit last November in their new Lincoln MKZ hybrid; we had a swell time touring Ridgecrest and the surrounding area. We could tell that Jim wasn’t ” a hundred percent”, but he was his usual personable, humorous self, and we are so pleased that we had one more visit with our dear friends.”
In 2018 we did a feature on the Higgs and will repeat it here as a salute to Jim. See below for the story in their own words:
By Jim & Carol Higgs
LCOC Western Region Featured Members
Jim and I both retired in 1999 and moved to Hattiesburg, MS. Jim had always liked Lincolns. He said one day he would like to buy one, which I thought was a pipe dream. Well, he started looking on eBay and other ads in Hemmings and finally found the 1989 Mark VII.
So he started to bid on it and then someone put in a higher bid and Jim countered it just before the bidding was to end. Jim’s last bid was the winner! So we actually purchased our 1989 Lincoln in June of 2002. He then arranged for payment and pickup of the Mark VII in Pensacola, FL after we returned from the Lincoln Meet in Nashville.
At the time we picked it up some areas on the hood looked like something had spilled on them and ruined the paint. After a few months we had it painted. The mileage was 77,870 when purchased and currently the mileage is 114,218. The car is pretty much the same as when we bought it except for the chrome lace-style wheels. It has the original engine and transmission and as far as we know, the original brakes. The upholstery is still original to the car. We have replaced the radio with a combination radio/CD player.
With our location in Mississippi we were able to attend Eastern, Mid-America and Western meets. The car has been as far east as New Jersey, north to Duluth, MN and west to Scottsdale, AZ, among many others and the car never skipped a beat.
Our first meet with our new Mark VII was the Dearborn Meet in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of Ford and the 50th anniversary of LCOC. Being novices that we were, we entered the car in the Pre-Primary class because we weren’t sure just how good our Lincoln was and were afraid to go into the Primary class on our first outing. Saturday on the show field, everyone was asking us “why didn’t you enter it in the Primary class?” We just shrugged our shoulders. Needless to say, we won first place in Pre-Primary, which was the beginning of our love relationship with Lincolns and LCOC.
If you have a comment to share about Jim let us know at info@lcocwestern.org.
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