LAWSON AND OPAL L. HIGGINS

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Higgins of East Prairie has been changed to 1 p.m. Saturday at Shelby Funeral Chapel here. The Rev. Martha True will officiate, with burial in East Prairie Memorial Park Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today.

Higgins, 74 years old, died Tuesday, March 12, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center, after a brief illness. Mrs. Higgins, 75 years old, died Wednesday, March 13, 1991, at the medical center, after an extended illness.

Higgins was born Dec. 23, 1916, in Lyon County, Ky., son of W.A. and Cora Higgins. He retired from Mississippi County Drainage District.

The former Opal L. Garrett was born Feb. 26, 1916, in Mississippi County, daughter of Tobe and Ruie Lee France Garrett.

The couple was married July 18, 1941.

They are survived by three sons, Buddy Burger of Chicago, Gene Higgins of East Prairie, Norman Higgins of McGehee, Ark.; five daughters, Georgia Carter and Carolyn Priest of Benton, Ky., Mary Gray of Joplin, Faye Higgins of East Prairie, Diane Oakley of Durham, N.C.; 31 grandchildren, and 41 great-grandchildren.

He is also survived by a brother, N.H. Higgins of Calvert City, Ky., and a sister, Mary Thompson of Kansas City. Mrs. Higgins is also survived by a son, J.D. Metheny of Illinois, and a brother, Howard Garrett of Paducah, Ky.

They were preceded in death by a daughter, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was also preceded in death by eight brothers, and she by two brothers and a sister.