Name: Vernon C. Wagner Funeral Homes
Address: Plainview, NY

Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of John, an extraordinary wonderful human being.  My family got to know John from the Plainview Pool. He used to swim laps with my Dad, who passed away just about 2 years ago.  I loved speaking to John about family.  He was such a sweet, loving, handsome man. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. May his memory always be a blessing.
With loving thoughts,
Susan and Cynthia Mirabel

So many memories come to mind. Just to name a couple that come to mind are the summer days Kevin and I would go to the pool. Kevin and I would jump off the high dive while he would swim his 10000 laps nonstop. Another great memory is when he took us to see the Tarzan movie when we were little kids and on the way home and the rest of the trip we were there he’d do the Tarzan yell which drove my grandmother crazy! Cheerios with fruit, Klondikes for dessert, off Oreo brand cookies, and in his later years 2 piece meat dark from Boston market. I sure will miss playing trivial pursuit, talking Braves Mets, and just listening to stories that he loved telling about all the people he loved. To say I’ll miss him is an understatement. Rest easy Grandpa, I love you. 

When I think about Grandpa it's a lot of the small memories that stick out. Like how there was always iced tea in the fridge. How he told us stories of his time in the army (they were always hysterical). How later in life he taught himself how to play saxophone. What sticks out most is when I when I'd hug him goodbye he'd always say 'bye doll'. I'll always admire your tenacity and wit. Love you Grandpa. 

There are so many incredible things I could say about my Dad, many people have touched upon a few: His absolute devotion and love of my Mom, his sharp wit, his kindness to our neighbors , his constant generosity to us kids, and his deeply religious faith. What I want to reflect upon are the moments that were small and very telling. There were six of us kids, lots of different personalities in the house (we were loud I am told by others, haha). With work, maintaining the lawn and house beautifully I don't know how my Dad had time to even notice what the kids were up to or struggling with, but he did. In sixth grade I was transferred to a new school in October of that year. It was hard on me, I had to meet new friends and catch up on what was being taught in class. My first day of school our teacher announced that there would be a test at the end of the week on China which the class had covered in September. I absolutely fell apart, I started to cry! My teacher felt so bad but what could he do? Well I am sure my parents were notified that I was stressed about this test. I came home from school a few days after this and my Dad sat me down and explained he had read our textbook and asked if I would like to go over the material on China? He was so patient and calm I will never forget the feeling of protection from him. I aced the test but more than that I learned how sweet my Dad could be.

The other memory that I can't forget is when I finished college and came back home. I walked in the door with my suitcases and immediately started crying!! Geez!! My Dad and Mom didn't know what to make of this!  Then my Dad asked me . "What's wrong?" And I  blurted out, " It's over!! College is over!" My Dad responded in desperation, " I'll take you back!" He just wanted to fix things! What a sweet response. I really will never forget it.
Thank you Dad for your love to all of us. I will miss you deeply. Your daughter, Diane

One of my many memories with Mr Higgins , my beautiful best friends Dad was his joking all the time every time I was at the house. His singing in the livingroom with his kids and dear Mrs. Higgins.. I loved watching this family enjoy the love that they all shared together. One memory was when I lost my Dad, I was almost 16 and I stated at his house the night I found out he passed away while on vacation with my Mom. I was lost sad and totally upset and Mr Higgins comforted me to the fullest of his ability.  He spoke to me and said I will always have him to talk to and love. Diane made me breakfast ...Mrs Higgins just kept showing me love. I'll never forget YOU Mr. Higgins.  I looked forward to going to NY to visit my family and always would pop over and stay a bit with Mr Higgins...he just cracked me up with every word that came out of his mouth. Another fond memory was me leaving your front door open...'what are you doing Virginia heating the streets" lol!!! 
Rest in Peace Mr. Higgins thank you for being in my life ...you were for sure one of my highlights of growing up living around the block from you! Give a kiss and hug to your wife...I'm sure you are already in her arms watching down on everyone . I miss you already!!! Xxxoooo

My husband Tony Paalz, John, John O’Sullivan and another friend played golf together for many years. They were a fun foursome and fast friends. We were all invited to the Quinn’s 50th wedding anniversary party, the party was at an old resort in the Catskills and they still had sunken heart shaped bathtubs. It was a lovely party and John and Jane were a hit on the dance floor. The next  morning Tony went to tell John we were headed home, he knocked on their door and John yelled “ come in”. Tony came back to the car he was laughing so hard, John was soaking in the heart shaped tub. 
  In 2004 Tony passed away and John spoke at his funeral. He spoke about their political differences,  John said Tony considered him  left of Genghis Kahn. I did keep in touch with John and Jane they were a devoted couple and so much fun. May your memories bring you peace and comfort.
With Sympathy,
Alison Paalz

OK, MB,  agreed that he had a somewhat rigid diet, but he HAD graduated to Cheerios from Post Raisin Bran to my recollection...

We were both HUGE NY Giants fans and we enjoyed watching quite a few of the great victories and suffered through more than our share of the ignominious defeats, either in person together or via telephone recap at halftime and after conclusion.

As a native Brooklynite, he had been a major Brooklyn Dodgers adherent, who, after having been abandoned by his team for L.A., adopted the NY Mets as his team.  Even though I'm a lifelong Yankees guy whose team historically tortured his Dodgers when they were in Brooklyn (except for that outlier season in 1955), before I was old enough to follow baseball myself, we could very  civilly discuss our team's prospects and status without rancor.

Boxing was another thing of mutual interest.  He had followed it in his younger years and I had read upon it extensively so that we could reflect upon the great champions and great contests of yore - no generation gap there... 

To make a long story short, perhaps my most poignant memory of him was the time I was "lost" overnight in a windy and driving rainstorm during a Boy Scout wilderness camp weekend in western Bergen County, NJ in '95, with a Search and Rescue team out searching for me.  John and his "bride" Jane, as he liked to call her, drove out in the middle of the night to Ridgewood, NJ from Plainview, NY to comfort his daughter and my wife, Linda, who, always thinking the worst is reality, was convinced that I had met an untimely end.  Of course, here I am writing this note.  But John and Jane pulled into our driveway in Ridgewood just minutes after I had been "rescued" and had appeared home,  had a quick cup of coffee - or was it tea for him - and drove back to Plainview.  Just another routine day in a long life well-lived... 

I'll  miss you, Dad.  Godspeed.  Rest in peace.

An Artist (continued)

A few more years later, I think it was on a Father’s Day, I remember my aunts and uncle having his old home movies transferred to VHS or maybe it was DVD. Everyone gathered around the TV for the surprise. I peered my head around the side to get a peak. Now, everyone else had already seen these family featurettes but they were all new to me. And these weren’t your typical home movies. He didn't just pull out the ol' 8mm and snap a quick scene here and there, he was trying to tell a story. He made these whimsical stop motion title sequences, and set music to go along with them. It all felt edited together somehow. And there again, he surprised me with his creativity. 

So in a way I guess you could say he was a filmmaker.

I'm certain there are many many other things I never even knew about. Surely there were songs we didn't get to. Or maybe a sketching drawn in his head for a new pattern to trim the front hedges into. But when I look back on my memories of Grandpa the first thing that will always come to mind is that he was an artist. In his own way.

An Artist

When I was younger they would drive down to visit us and without fail there were always two boxes in the car. First, and maybe most importantly, a box of Entenmann's. Sometimes it was the crumb cake, sometimes it was chocolate doughnuts, ever so slightly melted together from the car ride down. But what I remember being more excited for was the shoebox filled with bootleg VHS tapes. Looking back on it now I realize he didn’t make those tapes for us because he was frugal, and God knows he was. He did it because he wanted to share with his family something he loved. All the grandeur and adventure a movie could transport you to... I think he appreciated that more than most. And he didn’t just bring his favorite ones, he’d also bring the ones he thought we’d like too. 

So in a way you could say he was a curator. 

Then there were all the summers when we would visit them. Grandpa had this funny habit. In the mornings when it was just past the time he thought we should be awake he'd have a nice stroll through the house whistling and jingling his keys to a tune. Alright, I guess really it was more annoying than funny. But music really filled his life. He loved to sing (whether Grandma wanted him to or not). And when I was old enough he taught me to play a song on his keyboard. Eventually I'd get the notes right, but not the rhythm. Still, he liked hearing the tune and then he revealed to the six-or-seven-year-old me that he wrote it. I didn't know he could do that.

So in a way you could say he was a singer songwriter.

Wow so many great  memories I have of my Dad. First of all he was  quite a unique man,  from his eating habits to his very structured day to day schedule. He had Post raisin bran for breakfast every morning , and ham Swiss lettuce and tomato on rye for lunch every afternoon. Dinner is where he would really shake it up and have a basic meat and potato and alternate his vegetable.  It wasn’t until he was close to 90 that he was willing to try a slice of pizza.  Needless to say he didn’t like it.  He loved taking his kids on summer vacations and always tried to get an amusement park  in on the trip. I remember he once took me to Coney Island just to ride the cyclones.   He purchased two tickets one for him and one for me.  When he handed me my ticket I was shaking like a leaf because I was so scared to get on the ride. My mom told me if I was scared I didn’t have to go.  But once I looked at my dad‘s eyes and realized how excited he was to take me on a ride that was such a big part of his childhood  I just couldn’t disappoint him.  Once we got on the ride the  attendant turn to my dad and told him to hold on tight and to give him his glasses to hold because if he didn’t he would  lose  them. I wanted so badly to jump off  right then but I just knew how much he wanted me to experience the cyclone  with him.  And Im so glad I stayed on.  My Dad  ran his life like clockwork so at the end when things were out of his control it was very hard for him to handle  that.  It was so hard to watch him decline and feel helpless.  I will forever be grateful for how hard my father worked to support our family and  how he doted  on my mother and took care of her around the clock and stayed by her side until she passed. I will miss so much about my Dad but what I will miss  most of all is calling him and hearing his voice saying “ Hi Doll how are you “ Rest In Peace  with the love of you life. I love you and will miss you everyday of my life. ♥️

My favorite memory of my Dad was him taking me to the school parking lot and strategically placing folding chairs up to teach me how to parallel park!! Needles to say I knocked a few down!!
I also love the memory of him taking us to midnight Mass every Christmas and than coming home to all have breakfast with the family!
I am grateful for all my childhood memories of vacations where we would all pack in the Rambler Station Wagon and go upstate! My Dad loved to swim and he loved swimming with us in the ocean and filming us having fun
I loved that he was so kind to our neighbors and was devoted to his family! Most of all I admired how he loved my Mother and how he took such good care of her when she was sick
Thank you Dad for instilling good values in us and teaching us to be kind to others. 
We love you and will miss your smiling face! ❤️

My Dad loved to dance!!! My favorite dance partner!! ❤️ I love you and will miss you each and every day!

My favorite memory of me and my dad was of the many ski trips the two of us went on. We really had fun enjoying the slopes together and he'd always make me feel like I was a top-notch skier even though I was about average. I also love the memory of my dad playing guitar and singing with my mom. He would use a microphone in our little house, too funny. He was kind of a ham! I am grateful for the devotion he had for his family, especially caring for my mom when she was so sick the last few years of her life.  I love that he took pride in staying active his whole life and learning new things even late in life, like skiing, playing the saxophone and guitar. Dad was always so generous with his kids and grandkids. He and my kids adored each other and while we know that he is in a better place and reunited with my mom, he will be sorely missed. Thank you, Dad, for all the important life lessons you instilled in us. We love you very much! 

OBITUARIO

John T. Higgins

24 noviembre, 1927 – 21 marzo, 2021

Vernon C. Wagner Funeral Homes

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