Obituary of Sylvia Higgins

Sylvia (Byrne) Higgins passed away on October 15th, 2021 at the age of 85. She was surrounded by her loving family in Edmonds, Washington at the time of her passing. Sylvia was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Queens. She received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Queens College. While working at National City Bank, she met her husband, Edward William Higgins, Jr. They were married on January 24th, 1959 and moved from New York to California later that year. Sylvia was a compassionate mother to four children. She cherished the backpacking trips she took in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with Ed and the kids. Sylvia and Ed built a house in Kennewick, Washington, and they moved their family there in 1977. Sylvia had several passions and talents throughout her life. She had a love of the arts, enjoyed painting, excelled at crossword puzzles, and learned to speak both French and Italian. Sylvia also loved to travel around Europe with her family. Her favorite city was Paris, France, where she would enjoy jambon et fromage sandwiches. More than anything, Sylvia was the human embodiment of unconditional love. She had an endless amount of empathy and forgiveness. Words cannot begin to describe how much she will be missed. Sylvia was preceded in death by her parents David and Onofria Byrne, sister Nancy (Byrne) Conlon, and brother John Byrne. She is survived by her sister Jessica (Byrne) Stafford; son and daughter-in-law Mark and Janice Higgins; daughter and son-in-law Janet and Steve Medalia; daughter and son-in-law Amy and Terry Uplinger; daughter and son-in-law Lisa and Roger Coffman; grandchildren Matthew and Megan Medalia, Kayla and Courtney Uplinger; and grand-dog Olive Coffman.