Page 61 - Demo

Carefully placed heirlooms speak of his trusted positions with the Reagans. “They were the most wonderful people and very social. They were my world.” His eyes glint with tears. He has not quite recovered from the recent deaths of so many of his friends. “Attending Nancy Reagan’s funeral was very hard. She was one of the best people I knew. She is dearly missed.” The same year, he lost beloved Digby, Wilby’s predecessor. “It almost killed me. I had many ghosts up there,” he says about the last few years in Washington.
There is a balance. Robert Higdon’s freshly decorated waterfront condo re ects his non- conventional personality and delightfully de es teal and gray color palettes. Vibrant patterns play o each other—a bright orange and red sofa with green pillows, bold oral carpet, an an- tique chair covered in pink brocade. It looks happy, fun, and comfortable. A tiny embroidered pillow reads, “You can never be too skinny or have
too many blue blazers.” It was a gift from close friend Joan Rivers, he explains. “Each time we visited she gave me one of these. There used to be a store in New York where she had them custom made.” Several photographs show Joan and Robert. They are speaking to Lady Diana one year; in another they are on an Abercrombie & Kent safari with Marylou Whitney and Robert and Blaine Trump. Yet another shows them on a yacht with Walter Cronkite and wife Betsy.
Along the way of these and many more adventures, he collected art and antiques: Meissen porcelain, furniture which belonged to famous personalities, paintings by renowned artists. He found the most interesting pieces while in London, sourcing them at the Olympia Art and Antique Fair or in small antique shops on excursions to the countryside.
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ROBERT HIGDON
WATERFRONT LIVING
www.PanamaCityLiving.com • May - June 2018 • 61