Lucille Higgins passed away peacefully at the age of 96 on July 17, 2019. Lu was born on March 6, 1923 in Lewiston, Maine to French Canadian immigrants Phillip and Albertine Michaud and was the last living member of her "Maine" family which included her parents and siblings Raymond, Slim and Claire.
After graduating from Lewiston High School, Lu attended the Auburn Maine School of Commerce and then worked as a bookkeeper at Kresge's 5&10 and as an executive secretary at Prudential Life Insurance. In 1946 she married Bernard Higgins. In 1948 Bernie returned to active duty in the US Army and Lu's career as an army wife began. The following twenty three years of military life involved eleven major moves and twenty different addresses in Washington, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Germany, Texas, Florida, Maine, and Washington DC. Lu especially valued the time they spent in Germany where they traveled quite a bit and where she was assigned responsibility for setting up Catechism classes for the church and managing scout troops for the military families. After retirement, Lu and Bernie lived in New York and Michigan before settling in Tallahassee, Florida. They loved to travel and spent time in Canada, China and many countries in Europe. They also loved college football and were rabid Michigan State and Florida State fans. Other activities included endless bridge marathons and lots of golf.
Lu will be remembered as an elegant, refined lady with a great sense of humor. Lu was a devout Roman Catholic, always had a large group of friends, loved to entertain and volunteered throughout her life to support and organize events for groups such as the Girls Scouts, symphony associations, charity or club golf tournaments, church groups, garden clubs and many others.
Lu was preceded in death by her husband Bernie of 57 years and a son, Paul who died at the age of 39. She is survived by her daughters Patricia Welch (Edward) of West Palm Beach, FL and Susanne Kuhar (Steve) of Pensacola, FL. Other survivors include six grandchildren, William Kuhar, Thomas Kuhar, Lindsy Higgins, Jennifer Hooker, Thomas Welch and Kathleen Welch and ten great grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church on Monday, July 29, 2019 at 10 am followed by a reception at the Church. Lu will be buried with Bernie in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC at a later date.
In lieu of flowers you may wish to make a donation to Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 4665 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, FL 32309; Westminster Oaks Foundation c/o 4449 Meandering Way, Tallahassee, FL 32308 or your favorite charity . To express condolences or share a good story visit the website of EasternGateMemorial.com.
