Higgins was noted for service to Freehold

When Jim Higgins died on Jan. 30, Freehold Borough lost a quiet philanthropist, a devoted civic and community volunteer, a consummate storyteller who remembered facts as well as legends, and a dear friend.

Jim Higgins Higgins, 88, was the founder of the Higgins Memorial Home, Center Street.

Freehold Borough historian Kevin Coyne said, “You cannot turn around in Freehold Borough without bumping into someone Jimmy touched.”

Coyne, who is an author, said that in addition to feeling the loss of a dear lifelong friend, he will also feel the loss of a person who filled in the gaps in his work, a person who lived life in Freehold Borough.

“I would call him all the time and ask about this one or that one and he always knew the answers,” Coyne said.

Higgins’ devotion to his family and his town are reflected in the time he spent as a member of municipal boards and civic organizations, and by his volunteer efforts in many areas.

Notably, he was a member of the Freehold Borough School District Board of Education for 28 years and a member of the borough’s Planning Board for 18 years.

In his eulogy for Higgins, Coyne recalled that years ago when Higgins went to the movies, he would tell he usher where he would be sitting. If somebody died and a family needed him, he wanted to be sure the ushers could find him.

“He was on duty even when he wasn’t,” Coyne said.

Higgins was a founding director and chairman of Hudson Manor, an apartment building for senior citizens that was built on Hudson Street.

He was a member of the Freehold Township Lions Club and a recipient of the club’s Melvin Jones Fellow Award and past president of the Freehold Lions Club; a member of the Freehold Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International; a charter member of the Western Monmouth Exchange Club; and a member of the Freehold Optimist Club.

Higgins, who served in the military duringWorldWar II, was a 63-year member of the Monmouth Post No. 54 American Legion; a past commander of the Hightstown American Legion; and on Veterans Day 2009, Higgins was decorated at the French Consulate in New York City as a World War II Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the American Society of the French Legion.

He was also a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4374, Freehold, and a recipient of the post’s Citizen of the Year Award. He was a member of B.P.O.E. Lodge No. 1454, Freehold; a lifetime member of Freehold Council 1672, Knights of Columbus; a member of the Past Faithful Navigator of Msgr. Kivelitz General Assembly, 4th Degree Knights of Columbus; a former member of the YMCA board of directors; a former member of the Monmouth County Historical Association board of directors; and he was awarded the 1996 John G. McGackin Award for his contributions to Freehold Borough.

Coyne said that in Higgins’ line of work, the funeral director considered every life to be worth as much as every other one, and believed that everyone’s story was worth hearing.

“That is why he was so good at his job, because he understood that it wasn’t just about death. It was about life,” he said.

Higgins is one of the veterans featured in Coyne’s book, “Marching Home: To War and Back With the Men of One American Town.”

Higgins opened his funeral home in Freehold Borough in 1954, the same year he and his wife, Angela, were married. Angela Higgins died in 1997.

In his eulogy, Coyne said that “when you had to confront death — when you had to bury your parents, your spouse, your siblings, that it was comforting to be attended to by Jimmy,” who he called, “the affable, gentle soul with the red-rimmed eyes that always seemed on the verge of tears.

“That was maybe the most striking thing about him,” Coyne said. “The way he was able to laugh and cry at once. He could be dabbing at his leaky eyes, sad about a life that had ended, and then, in the same instant, a chuckle would bubble up, joy at the memory of something happy from that life.”

Roger Kane, a former mayor, said Higgins was a “terrific guy” and “always had a ready smile.”

“Sometimes that smile would be tempered, depending on the situation, but it was always there,” Kane recalled.

He said Higgins was one of the five original board members appointed to oversee Hudson Manor, which was built in 1977. Kane was Freehold’s mayor at the time.

“He was very supportive of the project. I felt this was an ideal spot for him. He saw the need for senior housing like we did and he was in on the ground floor of this project,” Kane said.

Higgins worked with the other board members, Andy Dale, John Watson, August Daesener and Ron Griffiths, and the borough’s attorney, Richard O’Connor, to get the apartment building off the ground.

“He was a great person to have on our board,” Kane said.

Higgins was the longtime president of the Hudson Manor board and Kane said he still managed to visit the residents at the apartment building several times a week.

“As president he had to sign things, but I really think he went because he enjoyed visiting with the people,” the former mayor said.

Kane said Higgins had an upbeat personality.

“He really cared about people and he was in the right business. He talked to people at one of the most difficult times in their lives. The town has lost a very, very good person,” Kane said.

Borough Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer served on the Board of Education with Higgins for six years. She said he was a “gentleman” and a “gentle man.”

“He loved life and my heart breaks at his passing,” she said. “Yet he leaves a wonderful legacy in his loving family who will carry on his work. I have such fond memories of my years with him.”

Mayor Michael Wilson called Higgins “a dear friend” he had known all his life.

“Without question, Jim was the greatest public servant in the history of Freehold Borough,” Wilson said. “They just don’t make people like Jimmy anymore.”

The mayor said he will always remember Higgins’ laughter and all of the service Higgins provided to Freehold Borough.

“He will be missed,” Wilson said.