Dan Hightower was a veteran running a service station when his work came to the attention of editors in the 1960s.
By CRAIG BASSE
Published August 21, 2004
CHASSAHOWITZKA - After Dan Hightower came home from World War II, he ran a service station in St. Petersburg. As a hobby, he submitted snapshots to contests in the St. Petersburg Times.
Impressed, the newspaper's editors hired him to take pictures professionally.
He turned out to be a prize winner.
Perhaps best known among his photos was "Boat Accident," which won second prize in the spot news category in the 1961 News Pictures of the Year competition, sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association, the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Mr. Hightower, 80, known in his later years as an animal rights advocate, died Thursday (Aug. 19, 2004) at his home in Chassahowitzka. He moved there to live with his daughter two years ago.
Published in 1960, "Boat Accident," showed a man and woman pinned by a boat that rammed and climbed aboard their runabout.
The same photo won first place in the annual contest sponsored by the Associated Press Association of Florida and the Florida Daily Newspaper Association.
After two years with the St. Petersburg Evening Independent, Mr. Hightower joined the Times staff in 1960, beginning a nine-year career.
He later sold commercial real estate in Pinellas County and became a real estate appraiser.
James Daniel Hightower Jr. was born in Greensboro, N.C., and moved to St. Petersburg as a youngster.
After graduating from St. Petersburg High School in 1941, he attended the University of Florida for a year. But when war broke out, he entered Tomlinson vocational school to study machine work and later joined the Army Air Forces. He served with an Air Service Command Group of the 8th Air Force in England.
His wife of 19 years, Georgette Reischmann Hightower, a former fashion buyer and manager and part-time Times fashion writer, died in 1985.
Survivors include a daughter, Elizabeth Hope Corona, Chassahowitzka.
National Cremation Society, Brooksville, is in charge of arrangements.
Information from Times files was used in this obituary.
