William "Bill" Francis Higby

August 17, 1935 - July 21, 2018

My father was born Eugene Joseph Yuettner Jr to Eugene Joseph Yuettner Sr and Eleanor Rita Treacy. When his parents divorced and his mother married Hazen Hannibal Higby, he was adopted by his step dad and renamed William (for his beloved Uncle Bill) Francis (for his favorite Aunt Frances). He has a loving baby brother Raymond who is 11 years younger than him. William graduated Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and He then served in the Navy on the destroyer USS Hank. He worked in printing most of his adult life as a production manager and on May 21, 1966, he married Janet Wright. They had two daughters Catherine & Elizabeth. They settled in Huntington NY from 1967 to 1997. They then lived in Beaver Dams, NY from 1997 to 2014 where they moved downstate due to health issues and to be closer to their daughters, Catherine Interrante and Elizabeth Biederman; Son in laws, Lawrence Interrante and Roy Biederman; and grandchildren Peter Interrante and Sarah Biederman. An avid antiques and guns. He routinely scoured the Huntington Village newspapers looking for garage sales to plan out his weekend. He would leave our house around 7 a.m. to start his "easter egg" hunt and return just after lunch. He would bring home his treasures much to mom's changrin but then after cleaning the items or not he would turn around and sell them for a profit. One day he had gone into our attic looking for a leak and came down with cylinders. He smiled and put them aside. Several weekends later he came home with a cylinder playing Victrola. My mom opened the door and asked where he planned on putting it in our very small Victorian. He responded "the Den." So between all the books, love seats and TV, we squished the Victrola. Dad macgyvered the Victrola and played the cylinder which was a very tinny ditty from the 1900s. He loved his antique guns, paintings and prints. The house was always crammed with his recent finds. However we girls learned to appreciate his finds. He loved his classical music and would listen with headphones while looking at the liner notes. However he didn't exactly ask us girls to turn down Cher, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper during their hey days. Adored by many. He had a deep baratone voice. Mischieveous to the end. Constantly had us in stitches with his jokes and his grandchildren adored him. Those who knew him, loved him even though he never understood that. My heart has shattered as he was my rock, my best friend and my daddy.