Richard Bernard Higgins, a longtime Provincetown resident, died peacefully at home in hospice care on July 31, 2024. He was 91.
The son of Patrick Higgins and Helen (Foss) Higgins, Richard was born on Sept. 19, 1932 in Jamaica Plain. The third of four children, he grew up in a house across the street from his high school, St. Thomas Aquinas, from which he graduated in 1950.
He attended college briefly, but finding it stressful, he left and took a job in the insurance industry. For many years he worked for the White Mountain Insurance Group; his last job was as the senior executive for the Fireman’s Fund Massachusetts branch, which he helped to wind down before his retirement in 1987.
During his career and into retirement, Richard shared his life with Ralph Travis, his partner for 54 years. They met when Richard was 21 and Ralph 23, and they had the same birthday, Sept. 19. When they met, Ralph was still in the Army, and he served in the latter stages of the Korean War. After he returned to the States, the two never parted.
For much of the 1950s, they lived in New York City and later in Fort Meyers, Fla. and then Boston. In 1968, they bought a house together at 228 Bradford St. in Provincetown for $10,000, even though because they were two men they were initially denied a mortgage.
In 1972, they sold that house to buy 554 Commercial St., a stately Colonial Revival house, for $25,000. After Richard’s retirement, they spent six months there and six months in Florida each year until Ralph died of cancer in 2007.
Through a mutual friend in Florida, Richard met Terrell Graham in 2012, with whom he spent the remaining 12 years of his life as partner and spouse. “Life with Richard was beautiful,” Terrell said. “Richard lived in the moment, and the moment was always nice,” he added. “Until, that is, the sad signs of dementia started to occur.”
Richard is survived by his spouse, Terrell Graham of Provincetown and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and by several nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours were held on Aug. 8 at St. Mary of the Harbor in Provincetown. A funeral service in Richard’s honor followed and concluded with a committal service at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Provincetown.
