Ann Higgins Obituary

Ann Reiheld Higgins passed away peacefully with her family by her side on September 4, 2009, after a determined yet measured battle with cancer. Ann was born in Loudonville Ohio, October 29, 1933, to Edward F. and Louise (Bash) Reiheld. She had an adventurer's heart from the beginning, first walking to the end of Loudonville when she was only three years old. After completing high school, Ann spent a summer walking and riding bikes through Europe. She returned and completed her undergraduate degree at Kent State University. Upon graduation, she worked for a year at East High in Columbus, Ohio, before packing up her car and driving across the country to take a job teaching English at Colorado Springs High School. There she met Lee Higgins and the two married the following summer, July 1959. Ann dedicated the early years of her marriage to raising four daughters before returning to teaching in the late 1970's at Coronado High School. She later obtained her Master's Degree in Reading Education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Ann had a great appreciation for the beauty and grandeur of nature, from the Mohican Forest of her childhood in Ohio, to her years hiking and birding throughout Colorado and Arizona, to her vacations in Alaska, Mexico, and the Amazon Rainforest. Ann and Lee spent much of their time enjoying majestic mountain landscapes from their home in Colorado as well as picturesque desert sunsets from their porch in Arizona. Ann lived and taught a life of determination, independence, appreciation, and unending affection. She shared laughter easily and was a constant source of joy and strength for her husband, daughters, and all who knew her well. Ann is survived by her husband, Lee, her daughters Katy (D'Amico), Peggy (Gordon), Maureen (Blunt), and Erin (O'Keefe) and their families, as well as her sister Ruth Strong of Galion, Ohio, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. “Now, with the snow closing down around us, closing us in with our thoughts and memories, I know the swifts will come and with them the memory of the martins. I know that then I will touch again the thread of the fabric that is the continuity of our existence, a gift from one generation to the next, as full of hope as the promise of spring.� - Ann A Celebration of Life reception will be held on Wednesday, September 9, at 2:00pm at the Remington Room at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Garden of the Gods Foundation, P.O. Box 49033, Colorado Springs, CO, 80949 or visit www.gardenofthegodsfoundation.com.