Robert Charles Higgins died Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, at the Masonic Home of NJ in Burlington Township. He was 91. He was born Dec. 23, 1923 in Bayonne, N.J. to John Hope Higgins and Elizabeth Ryan Higgins, the youngest of seven children. Robert was a World War II veteran, serving in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946. He was married April 14, 1945, to Gladys Henkel, who preceded him in death May 22, 2011. He had an AA degree from Union College in NJ and was a Ham Radio operator (W2IXU) for most of his life. Robert worked his entire career as an audio engineer for the National Broadcasting Company in New York City. Highlights of that career were being on the aircraft carrier that rescued the first suborbital space craft and being sent with a contingent of eight NBC engineers to Russia during the boycotted 1980 Olympics to send a live feed back to America. He was a longtime member of the Free and Accepted Masons. He joined DeMolay as a young man and received his 50 year Master Mason certificate in 2005. Robert is survived by his four children, twins James Higgins of Montpelier, Vt. and Kathleen Pearson of Raleigh, N.C., Nancie Wolfe and Sara Skelly, both of Toms River, N.J.; his six grandchildren and two great grandchildren; sister, Charlotte Biher of Pompano Beach, Fla.; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Masonic Home Chapel, 902 Jacksonville Rd., Burlington. Interment was held privately at the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veteran's Memorial Cemetery, Arneytown. Page Funeral Home, Burlington Burlington County Times: February 19, 2015 |