Disciples Divinity House

Dolores Highbaugh, a Disciples leader, long-time friend of the Disciples Divinity House, elder of Park Manor Christian Church, and mother of trustee Claudia Highbaugh, died early Friday evening, February 27, 2026, in Chicago. She would have turned 99 on her birthday in April.

Dolores was a lifelong voice for transformation and engagement across the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and in other venues. DDH is different because Dolores participated in its life and in its students' lives. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is different because she helped to transform and lead it. 

She provided essential leadership for the Disciples following Restructure and Merger, including serving on the Moderator Team for General Assembly from 1975-77. She regularly attended Monday dinners and programs at the Disciples Divinity House. She always had challenging questions for House Scholars as she nudged them to be educators for all people in the church. Her example, ideas, and encouragement were formative for DDH’s students and deans.

Dolores Jones and her family migrated from Jackson, Mississippi, first to Detroit, and then to Chicago. In 1947, she was introduced to Richard Highbaugh, who was pursuing his MBA at the University of Chicago following his service as a Tuskegee Airman. They were married in Chicago in 1949. They joined what would soon become Park Manor Christian Church. They raised two children, Claudia and Earl Burton, and were proud that both were graduates of the University’s Laboratory Schools.

Both Richard and Dolores served as elders and in many other ways at Park Manor. Dolores gave important leadership in the Chicago Disciples Union including in transformative interracial initiatives. She worked with Disciples Women in the regional and general church, often alongside Sybel Thomas and Eddie Griffin. She was a valued participant in ecumenical work for the general church, where she was typically the sole lay woman among white male clergy and theologians.

Arrangements are pending. She is survived by her daughter, Claudia. She was predeceased by her husband, Richard, who died in 2006 at age 85, and by their son, Earl Burton, who died in early February.  

In 2022, the Highbaugh Family Fund was created at the Disciples Divinity House on the occasion of Delores’s 95th birthday and to ensure that the Highbaugh family's profound example, commitment, and challenge are sounded for future generations of learners and leaders.