Timothy Jay Higginson

Timothy Jay Higginson, 72, passed away on June 25, 2026 at his home in Pocatello, Idaho. He was born on August 10, 1953 in Nampa, Idaho. He was the 7th of 8 children born to John Detton Higginson and Merle Dean Harris Higginson and is only 5 minutes older than the youngest child, his twin sister, Tamara Kay.

Tim attended schools in Nampa, where he participated in art classes and orchestra, until the summer that he turned 17 years old, when he moved with his parents and twin sister to Wallsburg, Utah after his father's retirement. He was accepted into the Utah Valley Youth Symphony during his last years of high school. He graduated from Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah in 1972. The following October he went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the great Australia West Mission in Australia and returned in October, 1974. Then he worked to earn money for his college education, which began in the spring of 1975. He continued to work part-time for the university until he graduated. In December, 1975, he briefly met Bonnie Jean Merrell in the student union building at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and they got to know each other a little when one of his friends and one of her friends, who were also friends with each other, invited them on a group date in March, 1976. They were married on July 29, 1976 in the Provo LDS Temple. After marriage, he continued to attend BYU until he graduated in 1979 after the arrival of their first baby in August, 1978. During the summer of 1979 they moved to Tooele, Utah, where he taught school for one year. Then they moved to Granby, Missouri in May, 1980 after summer vacation started. The following school year, he taught at the elementary school in Diamond, Missouri. He continued teaching there until he retired 25 years later, in 2005. Two years after retirement, they moved to Provo, Utah to be one of those classic couples who follow their children around, since the children had all grown up and moved to Utah by that time.

He and his family enjoyed family trips together during summer vacations from school. He often said there were three reasons why he taught school: June, July, and August. They took vacation trips out to the eastern states as well as the western states, and up to Canada.

His hobbies included art, basketball, violin repair, repairing violin bows, and chip (wood) carving. He attended woodcarving shows, including at Mountain Home, Arkansas; Rogers, Arkansas; Belleville, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Kirkwood, Missouri; Lebanon, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas, and a few others in addition to craft fairs including War Eagle Fair in Northwest Arkansas. He won Best of Show with one of his carved pieces at one of the shows. He was always good with his hands. Even as a child, he made little clay figures.

Later, while living in Provo, he learned to tune pianos along with his son, who also learned how and went to many tuning appointments with him. They often helped each other with the tuning business and were also accompanied by his wife, who did the paperwork for them. Their business, which they started in 2010, included home clients, schools and churches. He continued tuning until a few years ago, when his health forced him into retirement.

In 2019, they had the opportunity to move to Pocatello to live in the same house that his father-in-law built that his wife had lived in during her teenage years. 

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Bonnie, of Pocatello, Idaho, and their four children, Vicki (Jeff) Hoggard, Jeffrey (Stacie) Higginson, Melissa (James) G., Rebecca (Brandon) Wiscombe, and 9 grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews and other extended family members.

The family would like to thank Quinn Meadows Rehabilitation Center and Symbii Home Health and Hospice for their wonderful assistance in caring for him during the last few weeks of his life.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, July 9, 2026 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 3444 Hawthorne Road, Pocatello, ID. A viewing will be held prior beginning at 9:00 AM. Burial will follow the service at Mountain View Cemetery, 1520 S 5th Avenue, Pocatello, ID.

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