Longtime Hughes Memorial music leader dies at 78

Darrell Thomas Higginbotham, longtime music leader for Hughes Memorial Baptist Church, died Aug. 30. He was 78.

A graduate of Samford University, Higginbotham studied piano and voice and sang with Samford’s renowned A Cappella Choir, and toured internationally with various musical groups. He later earned a master’s degree in Christian education from Southern Seminary.

Higginbotham served as minister of music at Evans Baptist Church near Augusta, Georgia, from 1981 to 1990. He returned to Alabama to serve alongside his father, who was pastor of 25th Avenue Baptist, Birmingham. From 1993 until his death, he served as the instrumental ensemble director of Hughes Memorial Baptist, Pinson.