Russell Wayne Higginbotham

A graveside service for Russell Wayne Higginbotham, 62, of Tyler, Texas will be held on Saturday, August 14, 2021, at 11:00 AM at the Greenwood Town Cemetery in Greenwood, Louisiana. Russell passed away on Saturday, July 3, 2021, at his home in Tyler, Texas, after a long and valiant battle with cancer. Russell was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on November 2, 1958, to Mary Anita Huggins Higginbotham and Edwin Marvin Higginbotham III. He is descended from Louisiana and Texas pioneers on both sides of his family. Russell was an Episcopalian and a proud graduate of the Sewanee Academy, on the holy mountain at Sewanee, Tennessee. Russell was a true artist. He was a talented visual artist and musician, as well as a computer artist and a photographer. His creative genius allowed him the unique privilege of combining his love of the arts, trains, and model railroading in his business, Red River Models. He created model train layouts which were based on designs he developed from photographs of historic buildings and places. His work is on permanent display at the depot museums of Marshall and Mineola, Texas, as well as in the collections of private railfans in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and Austria. Some of his work is being donated to the railroad museum in Shreveport. He was also a talented guitarist and singer, and the founder and leader of Savoy Swing, a swing band that played a weekly engagement in Dallas, Texas, for five consecutive years. Russell was well known for his winning smile, his outgoing personality, and his pork-pie hat. He is preceded in death by his mother, Mary Anita Huggins Cairns, and his wife, Deborah Jean Kemp Higginbotham. He is survived by his wife, Gayle Reece of Tyler, Texas; his father and step-mother, Edwin and Candace Higginbotham of Shreveport; his son, William Elias Higginbotham of Mobile, Alabama; his granddaughter, Lily Michele Noland of Hamilton, Ohio; his daughter, Hope Erin Norman of Las Vegas, Nevada; his step-sister, Maria Boikova Struble of Gunnison, Colorado; his adopted in his heart son, Matthew Herndon of Brooklyn, New York; his aunt, Mary Margaret Richard of Shreveport; and a number of cousins. The family suggests memorials may be made in Russell's name to Parish Paws, a nonprofit animal rescue organization, 434 Atkins Avenue, Shreveport, LA 71104, or donate online by clicking this link.