Julia Anne Carnes Higley

Julia Anne Carnes Higley, age 57, died January 7, 2019 at her home in Skiatook, Oklahoma, following a valiant battle with liver disease.  Her memorial service was delayed until spring in Kentucky.  It will be held on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cobb-Hampton Funeral Home, Barbourville, Kentucky.  Interment will follow at the Will Carnes family cemetery on Road Fork, on Stinking Creek.  Family, friends, and anyone whose lives Julia touched are invited.

She was born December 5, 1961 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Willie Royce (“Bill”) Carnes and Diana Lathrop, where she spent her childhood. As a teenager, she lived on Stinking Creek and in Flat Lick, attending Knox Central High.   Besides, Kentucky, New Mexico and Oklahoma, Julia lived in Los Angeles, California and Kansas City, Missouri.  Her hobbies included anything in the great outdoors:  fishing, camping, swimming, boating, and gardening.  Her favorite vacations were at the ocean or on a lake.

She worked for American Airlines, and before that, at TWA until they went bankrupt.  She was particularly proud of her years at TWA and collected all variety of memorabilia.  She was at the Kansas City airport when TWA landed one of their last 747’s.  Along with other tearful employees, Julia signed the exterior shell of the plane before it took its final flight to an airplane graveyard out West.  While at TWA, she met the love of her life, Ted Higley.  When American Airlines bought TWA, she was transferred to Tulsa OK.  Ted retired and followed her there.  They bought a house near Skiatook Lake and a pontoon boat for fishing.  They were married on October 14, 2006.  Tragically, he died six months later.     

Of all the places she lived and all the things she did, she loved Knox County, Kentucky the best.  It’s where she went fox hunting with her Papaw and learned to cook from the best cook ever, her Mamaw.  She attended Young Grove Baptist Church.  Papaw taught her and her cousins how to shoot.  She rode the school bus to Dewitt School with Mamaw, a teacher for over forty years.  Knox County is where Julia made life-long friends.     

Julia was preceded in death by her husband, Ted Higley; her father Bill Carnes, her mother Diane Carnes McIntire, and by her grandparents Ethel (Williamson) and Ellis Carnes.

Left to mourn her passing are her daughter Saxony Carnes (Michael Claunts) and granddaughters Carina, Ariana, and Layla of Skiatook, OK; her sister Dana (Gary) Shurtz of Mesa, Arizona, her sister Melody Carnes (Sean Bainbridge) of Burbank, California, her aunt Deanna (Clay) Harmon of Berea, Kentucky, and many who will miss her greatly. 

To the Higley family, the staff of the Cobb-Hampton Funeral Home would like to offer you our heartfelt sympathy during your time of bereavement.

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