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He worked as a brakeman on the railroad for nearly 20 years before owning and operating his own roofing company. He later worked at Aeroquip (Eaton\/Danfoss Power Solutions). In his spare time, Mike was a gifted problem-solver and self-taught engineer \u2014 truly a \u201cjack of all trades.\u201d Fascinated by the inefficiency of traditional wind turbines, he developed and patented a counter-vortex turbine, with a nearly soundless prototype that powered his home. He was a gentle and thoughtful soul with an extraordinary mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will be sadly missed by his mother, Donna Underwood of Indiana; stepmother, Louverne Higinbotham of Virginia; his children, Megan (Ryan) Porter of Virginia, Drew Higinbotham of Indiana, and Lauren (Brent) Carlisle of Indiana; brother and sister, Mark (Jen) Higinbotham of California and Marcia (Adam) Huffman of Portugal; stepbrothers, John (Angie) Underwood, Jr. of Georgia and Bruce Maxey of Virginia; stepsister, Angela (Tim) Ramsay of Virginia; grandchildren, Vaughn, Otto, and Vivian Porter of Virginia, and Eleanor and Killian Carlisle of Indiana; nephews, Aric Forbing of Indiana and Alex (Megan) Higinbotham of California; close friends, Tim (Sharon) Franklin, and Jon (Joy) Neer of Ohio, and girlfriend, Susan (Kast) Friedrich, of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike was preceded in death by his father, Milton Ferrell Higinbotham, Jr.; his niece, Vanessa Forbing, and his close friend, Denny (Laura) Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A burial ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, at\u00a0Walnut Grove Cemetery, 9772 Ridge Road, Delphos. Pastor Michael Harper will officiate. A celebration of Mike\u2019s life will be held from 1-5 p.m.\u00a0Wednesday, July 1, at The 1882 Reserve, 11756 Bockey Road, Delphos. All family and friends are welcome.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Arrangements were entrusted to Harper Funeral Homes, Albion & Avilla. Michael Alden “Mike” Higinbotham, 68, passed away on Monday, May 11, 2026, surrounded by his family at his residence in Middle Point after a long illness. Mike was born in Frankfort, Indiana, on July 1, 1957, the son of Milton Ferrell Higinbotham, Jr. and Donna May (Waldron) Underwood. He worked as a brakeman on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 08:08:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207032"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207035,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207032\/revisions\/207035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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