MacArthur Friend Dies
SCHOOL MATES AT WEST POINT
Colonel Higbee Will Have Military Funeral Tuesday Afternoon
Lieut. Col. Herbert G. Higbee, 64, who attended West Point academy at the same time as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commandeer of the allied forces in Australia, died at his home, 526 First street at 6:45 o’clock Saturday evening. He had been in failing health for the past two years, but his condition became serious about two weeks ago. Death was caused by leukemia.
Lieut. Col. Higbee, although he graduated two years of General MacArthur, always spoke of him as a very determined and brilliant cadet at West Point.
Military Service
A full military service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the McCauley-Chapman funeral home, and the local American Legion post will be in attendance. The Rev. H. W. Putney and Dr. Effie McCollum Jones will officiate, with burial being made in Graceland cemetery.
Born in 1877
Herbert G. Higbee was born Sept. 13, 1877, at Fairbank, Iowa; his parents, Harriet George and Wallace M. Higbee. His boyhood was spent at Independence and he graduated from high school there at the age of 16. In 1897 he entered West Point academy, and after graduating from there, attended Iowa university for one year. He entered the department of Internal Revenue with the United States government in May, 1907 and in 1915 he transferred as an officer of the Federal Narcotic Enforcement and continued in this department until retiring on account of physical disability March 1, 1941.
Went Overseas
Higbee was stationed in Chicago, Denver, Phoenix,El Paso, Dallas, and New York City, and for many years headquartered in Des Moines and Omaha. During the World war he went overseas with the Iowa National Guard as part of the 34th division, better known as the Sandstorm division. While in the war, he was inland on the Rhine for about 16 months. He held a reserve commission of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
Miss Julia Frank became his bride Dec. 18, 1907 at Webster City, and they have always made their home here. Mr. Higbee was a member of the Elks, the American Legion and the Military Reserve Officers Corps. He leaves his wife, one daughter, Mary Jane and his mother, Mrs. Harriet Higbee, of Boone, Iowa. One son, Robert, age seven years, preceded him in death, and his father died July 19, 1927.
Mrs. Alice Smith, a sister, lives at Storm Lake and another sister; Mrs. Amy Agnew, at Clarinda. There are also two nieces and one nephew.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Mar. 30, 1942
Herbert George Higbee was born Sept. 13, 1878 to Wallace M. and Harriet ‘Hattie' George Higbee. He died Mar. 28, 1942 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery, Webster City, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
