William T. Higdon

William Terril Higdon, born January 4, 1930, to Earl and Faith McCall Higdon, died on November18, 2021 surrounded by loved ones in his home in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Bill grew up on a farm outside Osborn, Missouri. After graduating from Osborn High School in 1947, Bill attended Graceland College in Lamoni, IA. He graduated college in 1949 and earned his PhD in Soil Chemistry in 1957.

He married Barbara Joan McFarlane in 1950.

From 1957 to 1963 Bill worked for Shell Development Company, doing research. In 1963, he accepted a faculty position at Graceland College, where he was also Chair of the Department of Math and Science. He subsequently served as Graceland's president from 1966-74. 

In 1974, Bill accepted the call to become a member of the Council of Twelve of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During his time at the church, he and three colleagues founded Outreach International, with a mission of providing people in underdeveloped countries and regions a methodology to work together as community to meet the challenges of chronic poverty.

He returned to Graceland in 1992 to serve again as president and retired in 1997.

After the 2011 death of his wife Barbara, Bill married Phyllis Lanes Johnson in 2013.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his first wife, and all three of his sisters. He is survived by his and Barbara’s three children, Miriam Elizbeth Higdon (John Funke), Ruth Elaine Higdon (Peter Hackett) and Richard Terril Higdon (Debra); their five grandchildren, Paul, Alex, (Claudia Tang), Kevin, Timothy and Scott (Emily) Higdon, and three great-grandchildren; his second wife Phyllis and her children, Erik (Robyn) Johnson and Sara Kenney; and his bonus grandchildren, Vivia Alfifuson, Benjamin, Alaric and Aine Johnson, and Kaitlyn and Cooper Kenney.

 Memorials can be sent to Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa 50140, or Outreach International, 112 W 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Funeral services will be held Monday, Nov. 22 at 11:00 am at Calvary Lutheran Church in Grand Forks. There will be an additional service later in Lamoni, IA. As Christ calls on us to love our neighbors, the family requests that all those attending the service wear masks regardless of vaccination status.