Allen Higginbotham

Allen Bane Higginbotham, of Sarasota, died on January 5, 2021. He was 91 years old. Allen was born in Portsmouth, Ohio on December 9, 1929 to Chloe Adair and John Crockett Higginbotham. He was reared on Horse Creek, near Iaeger, West Virginia. After graduation from Welch High School, he attended Duke University for two years before entering the US Naval Academy in 1949.

Upon graduation from Annapolis in 1953, CAPT Higginbotham commenced a predominantly sea-going career, including service in and command of destroyers, cruisers, and submarines. He commanded the submarine REQUIN (SS-481) from 1966 to 1968. SS REQUIN is on permanent display at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburg, PA. In 1970, CAPT Higginbotham commissioned the frigate USS TRIPPE (FF-1075), which he commanded until 1972. Further naval service included direction of Anti-Submarine Warfare activities for the Sixth Fleet, commander of two destroyer squadrons, and service as Chief of Staff and Deputy to Commander Surface Forces, US Atlantic Fleet.

CAPT Higginbotham served three Pentagon tours, and was awarded two Legions of Merit by the Secretary of the Navy and the Meritorious Service Medal by the Chief of Naval Operations. After retiring from the Navy in 1982, CAPT Higginbotham worked at United Technologies as the Director of the Undersea Warfare Program Office, and at Vitro Corporation as the Director of Navy Business Development.

CAPT Higginbotham and his wife Linda (née Wood, of Annapolis, MD) were married in 1954. After a long military service career involving many relocations and the raising of four children, they retired to Sarasota, Florida in 1993. CAPT Higginbotham spent much of his retirement time in service to others, including Habit for Humanity, and on mission teams to Honduras to establish and support an eye clinic for the needy. In Sarasota, Allen and Linda founded Time Tithers, an organization of individuals who devote at least ten percent of their free time to doing the Lord's work.

Allen and Linda were also members of the Church of the Palms in Sarasota, where Allen served on the Board of Elders. CAPT Higginbotham was preceded in death by his son, CDR Allen B. Higginbotham, Jr., USN (Retired) in 2009; and by his daughter, Ann Adair Prohoniak, in 2016. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Linda; two sons, Robert W. Higginbotham of Fairfax, VA and David B. Higginbotham of San Francisco, CA; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The entire Higginbotham family wishes to express our heartfelt gratitude for the professional and loving care provided to Allen during his last years by the staff at Arden Courts of Sarasota, and Tidewell Hospice care; especially Connie, Carey, and Danielle at Arden Courts and Jessica from Tidewell Hospice. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests donations to Tidewell Hospice of Sarasota. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 2 p.m. at the Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota. The service will be live streamed on the Church of the Palms website: https://www.churchofthepalms.org/