William Travis Higginbotham

Mr. William Travis Higginbotham, 82, of Macon, MS passed away at Elderly Care in Macon, MS. on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.  Funeral services will be held Friday, August 18, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at Cockrell Funeral Home Chapel with Bro. Steve Reynolds.  Interment will be held in Salem Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour before the service. In lieu of flowers, Memorials may be made to Elderly Care Center, 496 Magnolia Drive, Macon, MS  39341. Cockrell Funeral Home is in honored to entrusted with arrangements.

Mr. Higginbotham was born on February 2, 1941 in Macon, MS. He graduated from Shuqualak High School and attended East Mississippi Community College before enrolling at Mississippi State University. While attending MSU, he earned a Bachelors, Masters and Specialist degree in Education. He was married for 59 years to the former Gary Lois Clark of Macon, Mississippi who also currently resides at Elderly Care. He worked as an educator for more than 30 years, serving in the Noxubee County School District, West Point School District and Central Academy in Macon, holding the positions of Science Teacher, Title I Coordinator, Assistant Principal, Principal and Head of School. Upon his retirement from education, he also worked at Trailboss Trailers and Cockrell Funeral Home in Macon.

Mr. Higginbotham is a former member of the Mississippi Army National Guard and a lifelong church member, most recently of First Baptist Church in Macon. In his church life, he served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and youth chaperone, in addition to participation in numerous committees and search efforts for church leadership.

Mr. Higginbotham found great joy in serving teachers, coaches and students during his time as a school administrator and worked to support each student on his or her path to graduation. In his free time, he enjoyed managing a small cattle farm in Noxubee County where he worked to renovate the home place of his wife's parents and spent many weekends and evenings feeding cows, making hay, and watching the pasture life until "dark thirty."

Mr. Higginbotham is survived by his wife, Gary Lois (Clark) Higginbotham of Macon, Mississippi, his daughter Haley (Higginbotham) Montgomery of Starkville, Mississippi, and three grandchildren, Travis, Elisha and Maggie.

He is also survived by five siblings: Leon Higginbotham of Macon, MS, Nita (Higginbotham) Royal of Winston Salem, NC, Janice (Higginbotham) Windham of Chattanooga, TN, Yvonne (Higginbotham) Barge of Macon, MS and Randy Higginbotham of Macon, MS.

Mr. Higginbotham was preceded in death by his parents, William Thomas Higginbotham and Louie Mae (Lee) Higginbotham of Macon, MS and his son-in-law, Mike Montgomery of Starkville, MS.