I knew him all my life. We simply called him “Mr. Higgins.” He was the Mt. Carmel High School principal. His deep love for the students endeared him to us. My father came to Mt. Carmel as a high school freshman in 1949, the same year that Verdon Higgins came as a new teacher.
I remember Mr. Higgins preaching on chapel. He said that he was not a preacher! Could have fooled most of us! He told stories... success and failure... faithfulness and rebellion... Most of his stories involved unnamed former students. Rebels and failures served as warnings. Faithful successes served as examples, challenges to young people that we could achieve God’s beautiful plan and will for our lives.
I still remember the stories. But more than the stories, I remember the emotion with which Mr. Higgins told them. He told the stories of rebels and failures with tears, weeping, a broken heart, and an agonizing burden that reminded us that people are never finished! He told the stories of faithful successes with joy and reward, reminding us that these were his paychecks!
I understood something about the paycheck because I knew how Mr. Higgins lived. I knew that he lived without a living wage salary. A teacher with a Master’s Degree and high school principal certification–Mr. Higgins was called of God to volunteer his life in shaping the lives of young men and women. I knew that he lived for a reward greater than earth. Mr. Higgins lived for eternity. He inspired me to live for eternity, too.
Mr. Higgins loved Jesus radically, and he expressed that love toward us students. Because he loved greatly, he was a real winner.
John 12:23-26 “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
I remember Mr. Higgins as being a passionate man. He was passionate about serving God; it was evident in everything he did. He was passionate about his family. His love for his wife, and his love and pride in his daughters shone through his gaze when he looked at them, and through his voice when he spoke of them. He was passionate about teaching. I can't imagine a single student ever went through one of his classes without realizing that. He was passionate about the young people who passed through his sphere of influence. He wanted us to grow to love his Lord as much as he did himself. He wanted us to become servants of God; leaders of people; upright, active citizens; beacons of light to lead others to God's love. And he was patient when we fell short. In the four years I was at Mt. Carmel, I cannot recall one time when he had to make an announcement of disciplinary action that his patience and passion did not leak from his eyes and run down his cheek. He was passionate about his country. Oh, how he loved America! He loved this amazing country that God blessed us with, and he realized how fortunate each of us is to be here. He was passionate about our freedoms, and about the special people who made sacrifices to preserve those freedoms. Mr. Higgins, with his passion and patience, is one of my most cherished memories. And the privilege of being acquainted with him is one of the greatest blessings of my life.
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