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Unstoppable Overcomers Ep # 138 Holly Higgins Gold Star Mom.
Holly Higgins-Staudacher is the Gold Star Ambassador and Liaison to Families of the Fallen and a Warrior Storytelling Coach for The Heroes Journey, a nonprofit that produces Last Out; Elegy of a Green Beret, a play written by Lt. Col. (Ret) Scott Mann, Founder and President of Rooftop Leadership and The Heroes Journey. Last Out, a play about war and the true cost of modern war has just wrapped up its second nationwide tour that started in December 2022.
Before each tour stop, Holly spends weeks researching and reaching out to local families of the fallen. When the team arrives at each city, she brings them into ‘the fold’, introducing them to the team, cast, and crew. Holly cares for these families throughout the week at each stop, and they and their fallen heroes are honored at each performance.
The Heroes Journey also conducts two-day Warrior Storytelling Workshops that Holly co-facilitates nationwide. Condensed half-day workshops are also conducted at Last Out play tour stops because stories heal the heart and mend the soul. The cast of Last Out and the entire Heroes Journey Team comprises combat veterans and military family members who have lived the powerful experiences the play depicts and walk the treacherous paths to recovery that our heroes must walk to find healing and restore hope.
Holly is a Gold Star Mom herself, whose 23-year-old son, SrA Daniel J Johnson, was KIA on Oct. 5, 2010, in Kandahar Province, Dand District, Afghanistan. Her son Danny was an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Technician in the United States Air Force. His traumatic and tragic death sent her on a spiritual journey with grief as her companion.
On this journey, Holly has discovered that grief is not necessarily something negative to avoid that drags us down. Instead, she looks at grief as a gift that assists us in mourning our loved ones and can teach us, help us heal, and restore our joy and hope. Some surprising gifts grief has given Holly are greater purpose and meaning, unshakable faith and a peace beyond understanding, deeper appreciation, and increased joy for what remains in her life.
She has discovered that though the sorrow and pain from the death of her beloved son do not go away, the privilege of serving others whose loved ones also do not return home from war and our Warriors who do return home but return with their own sorrow and pain that most of our country does not understand brings enormous comfort to her heart.
Holly is a wife, a mom of seven, and a granny to eight. Professionally, she worked as a Registered Nurse and a Social Worker in the mental health field. As a Social Worker, Holly primarily worked as a Forensic Specialist for those who were found not guilty of crimes because of mental disease or defect. She also Supervised Drug Court for Women in Dane County WI, and in her last professional position, Holly was the Director of a Homeless Shelter for Women in Madison, WI
Holly’s son’s courage, patriotism, integrity, and passion inspire her every day to be a person worthy of all that he sacrificed for the country he loved enough to die for.
Her son is her inspiration and her hero.
To connect with Holly, go to:
theheroesjourney.org, lastoutplay.com
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By Dorothy O'DellHolly Higgins-Staudacher is the Gold Star Ambassador and Liaison to Families of the Fallen and a Warrior Storytelling Coach for The Heroes Journey, a nonprofit that produces Last Out; Elegy of a Green Beret, a play written by Lt. Col. (Ret) Scott Mann, Founder and President of Rooftop Leadership and The Heroes Journey. Last Out, a play about war and the true cost of modern war has just wrapped up its second nationwide tour that started in December 2022.
Before each tour stop, Holly spends weeks researching and reaching out to local families of the fallen. When the team arrives at each city, she brings them into ‘the fold’, introducing them to the team, cast, and crew. Holly cares for these families throughout the week at each stop, and they and their fallen heroes are honored at each performance.
The Heroes Journey also conducts two-day Warrior Storytelling Workshops that Holly co-facilitates nationwide. Condensed half-day workshops are also conducted at Last Out play tour stops because stories heal the heart and mend the soul. The cast of Last Out and the entire Heroes Journey Team comprises combat veterans and military family members who have lived the powerful experiences the play depicts and walk the treacherous paths to recovery that our heroes must walk to find healing and restore hope.
Holly is a Gold Star Mom herself, whose 23-year-old son, SrA Daniel J Johnson, was KIA on Oct. 5, 2010, in Kandahar Province, Dand District, Afghanistan. Her son Danny was an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Technician in the United States Air Force. His traumatic and tragic death sent her on a spiritual journey with grief as her companion.
On this journey, Holly has discovered that grief is not necessarily something negative to avoid that drags us down. Instead, she looks at grief as a gift that assists us in mourning our loved ones and can teach us, help us heal, and restore our joy and hope. Some surprising gifts grief has given Holly are greater purpose and meaning, unshakable faith and a peace beyond understanding, deeper appreciation, and increased joy for what remains in her life.
She has discovered that though the sorrow and pain from the death of her beloved son do not go away, the privilege of serving others whose loved ones also do not return home from war and our Warriors who do return home but return with their own sorrow and pain that most of our country does not understand brings enormous comfort to her heart.
Holly is a wife, a mom of seven, and a granny to eight. Professionally, she worked as a Registered Nurse and a Social Worker in the mental health field. As a Social Worker, Holly primarily worked as a Forensic Specialist for those who were found not guilty of crimes because of mental disease or defect. She also Supervised Drug Court for Women in Dane County WI, and in her last professional position, Holly was the Director of a Homeless Shelter for Women in Madison, WI
Holly’s son’s courage, patriotism, integrity, and passion inspire her every day to be a person worthy of all that he sacrificed for the country he loved enough to die for.
Her son is her inspiration and her hero.
To connect with Holly, go to:
theheroesjourney.org, lastoutplay.com