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Cleo Higgins -
Former high school and college educator Cleo Higgins and her son, Sean Higgins, stand side by side six years ago. -
Dr. William Higgins and his wife, Cleo, fought for civil rights and were acquaintances with several high-profile civil rights leaders of the era. A community leader and veteran of two wars, William Higgins was a dentist and he assisted in the effort to desegregate schools.
Cleo Higgins, a civil rights trailblazer and community leader in Palatka, died at the age of 98 Thursday morning.
Palatka residents remember her as a strong, caring woman who left an abiding legacy.
“Anything that she could do in the community, she did it,” said retired school administrator D’Arcy Miller.
Higgins received several degrees from LeMoyne College, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Bethune-Cookman College, according to Bethune-Cookman University’s website.
She began work as a professor at Bethune-Cookman in 1945 and also designed the institution’s official seal. She then left Bethune-Cookman in 1956 to move to Palatka, where she worked as an educator at Palatka’s Central Academy High School.
Her husband, William Higgins, played a vital role in the effort to desegregate Putnam County Schools. And Cleo Higgins was instrumental in the early days of Palatka’s Collier-Blocker Junior College, which later became St. Johns River State College.
“(SJR State) wouldn’t be the same organization that it is today without her contribution,” college President Joe Pickens said.
Higgins returned to Bethune-Cookman in 1970 to work as the acting chairman — and then the chairman — of the Division of Humanities. The university’s website states that Higgins later became acting academic dean and vice president for academic affairs dean of the faculty.
The Rev. Kevin James Sr., who enrolled at Bethune-Cookman while Higgins worked there, still remembers the advice she gave his class.
“‘You have to be serious about your business, or you have no business being here,’” he recalled her saying.
While many would describe Higgins as old-school, James said Higgins would say, “'Not that I was old-school, I was the right school.'”
Higgins retired in 1988 after a 43-year career in education, Bethune-Cookman’s website states. Even then, she continued volunteering in various communities around Daytona Beach.
“She had a persevering spirit,” The Rev. Karl Flagg said. “It was never about her. It was always about God, family and community.”
Higgins’ son, Sean Higgins, declined to comment on his mother's passing, but in a February interview with the Daytona Times, he emphasized the importance of honoring figures like her.
“Black history should always be celebrated," Sean Higgins told the Times. "We should honor not just those from the past but also those making history who are living."
Lohman Funeral Home in Ormond Beach will handle funeral arrangements.
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