Your editor's second cousin Rachel (Hollingsworth) Higginbotham 
and hubby James "Jim" Higginbotham have now passed their 60tb year to-
gether.  The actual anniversary was June 19, 1991.  That means they were 
married a month and a day before your editor was born (20 July 1931).  
He just turned sixty.  That's "awesome" to contemplate! See our notice 
of the Golden (5Oth) Anniversary in HR June, 1981, pp 35-36.  At the 
end of that article I said: "Now, Rachel, Dear Cousin, let's go for 
the Diamond!"  Well, Jim and Rachel took me up on that suggestion and 
it came to pass. (See also back cover Picture Gallery in HR June, 1987 
when the Higginbothams celebrated their 55th Anniversary (put in HR a 
year later).  They do not look a bit older now.)
    The official celebration was held on 29th June 1991, with an open 
house at their home in Yucaipa, California.  Some kinsfolk live in oth-
er states, so it was set a week later.  No matter.  It was a great day.
Your editor was Present this time;  I missed the 1981 celebration be-
cause my refrigerator suddenly failed and I had to go get another used 
one as quick as possible.  At that time they lived at Huntington Park, 
California.  Yucaipa is way outside of Los Angeles, in San Bernardino 
County near the Riverside County line.  The nearest big town is Redlands.
    I took 5 hours on local buses and the Greyhound.  At the depot in 
L.A. Door 13 was called for Redlands.  My parents would have said it 
was a bad 'sign,' bless them - show business folks are superstitious.
Then a pigeon was found flying around inside the depot, barely miss-
ing the heads of patrons as it flew around desperately looking for the
"window to the coop." Mom and Dad would both have cried out about this 
as a really "Ill Omen."  Well, I am not superstitious and am a debunker 
of such stuff in a minor way.  But these turned out to be true: the 
coach failed and we waited fully forty minutes for a new one to drive 
up to Door 13.  Just before that event, the pigeon found an open door 
and was gone in the twinkling of an eye.
    Arriving several hours later at Redlands, I called Rachel, who dis-
patched her son Doug, who, because he lives in Arizona, did not find me 
for another 45 minutes.  Other than that, everything went smoothly.
    By the time I arrived at the neat little cottage, many guests had 
come and gone, perhaps a hundred in all, the family and the members of 
the church.  My brother John and wife Dolores were there.  John had not 
seen Jim and Rachel for about 57 years.  So it was a grand reunion.  The 
whole affair was a cheery love fest with cake, coffee, and snacks.  The 
house is located in a quiet neighborhood.  Big trees shelter the back of
it, with a slope well planted.  It smelled like a forest, which is some-
thing you have to experience to appreciate fully.  Yet, it's not a large 
estate, just a cozy place to live.  All four of the children had either 
been there or were still there when I arrived.  Many of the grandchild-
ren and great-grandchildren came too, about whom we had written in this 
journal but never met before.
    So passed the Diamond Wedding Anniversary.  Well, Jim and Rachel, 
let's go for the 75th (also sometimes called the Diamond) Anniversary.  
I may not be there, but have a great time just the same.
    God bless.