Higbee Closes Up Shop at Orangeview

After 34 years of teaching Orangeview Junior High students how to cut, sand and paint furniture, toys and knickknacks, Dale Higbee retired Friday and bade farewell to the school’s woodworking program, which is closing.

“There are many remnants of Dale Higbee all over the campus and in our homes,” said Principal Donna Perry, whose granddaughter has a toy duck that Higbee made. “Some of the arts he knows are really dying crafts. When he goes, it’s the end of an era.”

Higbee said wood shops are being phased out by Orange County schools, in part because instructors are not available.

“The colleges aren’t producing industrial technology teachers, but people still enjoy working with their hands and using tools,” said Higbee, 60. “I wonder where the craftsmen are going to come from. Even doctors have to use saws, and they’re not going to develop those motor and physical skills in the schools.”

For spring semester, Perry said, the Anaheim school will offer a crafts class, which will include woodworking projects, but nothing as comprehensive as what Higbee taught.

“It’s a shame because wood shop is an invaluable way to teach students,” Perry said. “I think junior high kids especially really value these projects because they’ve made them with their own hands.”

Higbee said that after he retires, he hopes to make toys and perhaps pass along his craft to his 12 grandchildren. He also will help out as a volunteer in the Orangeview crafts class.

Knowing that future students might not have the opportunity to use tools or know the satisfaction of making a bookcase or table from raw wood makes his retirement bittersweet, Higbee said.

But Perry, who gathered with teachers, administrators, students and alumni to say goodbye to Higbee on Friday, said he will always be welcome on campus.

“Orangeview’s like his second home,” the principal said. “When you put so much time in at a campus it becomes part of your life. We’re not saying goodbye to Dale. We’re just saying, ‘See you in a couple of days.’ ”