WASHINGTON — Robin L. Higgins, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and native of Long Island, will be sworn in as Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Before her nomination as under secretary, Higgins was executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
She is the widow of Col. William R. (Rich) Higgins, a Marine officer taken captive by terrorists in Lebanon in 1988, and later murdered. He was officially declared dead on July 6, 1990 – 11 years to the day of his wife’s ceremony.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held July 6, at 10 a.m., in Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in, Annapolis, Md. Higgins will have the oath administered by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (Class of ’67).
Higgins will be responsible for directing the operation of VA’s 119 national cemeteries and will oversee memorial programs, including headstones and gravesite markers, administering a federal grants program to state veterans cemeteries and the issuing of Presidential Memorial Certificates to survivors of honorably discharged veterans. More than 8 million people visit VA’s national cemeteries each year to pay tribute to the nearly 900,000 Americans who have died while in military service.
Higgins became an internationally known speaker on surviving adversity and terrorism following the death of her husband. Her book, Patriot Dreams – The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins, was published in time for the commissioning of the USS Higgins, a Navy destroyer named for her late husband. Capt. James L. T. “Red” Smith, USN, the first commanding officer for the USS Higgins, will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
She received a bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Oneonta and a master’s degree from Long Island University. Higgins is the daughter of Dr. Norman Ross of Delray Beach, Fla., and Mrs. Thelma Ross of Valencia, Calif.
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