Virginia K. Higgins

MILLERTON — Virginia K. Higgins, 85, of Millerton died Aug.3, 2010, after a brief illness. She was the widow of Thomas Higgins, who died in 2005. 

Virginia was born and raised in Pleasant Valley, N.Y. She was the daughter of Margaret H. (Hughes) and Robert L. Keller. She attended Arlington High School and graduated from the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, N.Y. She later attended Katherine Gibbs School in Boston, followed by a working career in New York City and in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Virginia married Thomas F. Higgins of Millbrook in 1950. Together they owned and operated a dairy farm in Amenia, where they raised their family. 

After farming for many years, Tom and Virginia purchased the Willows Motel in Amenia, which they ran for more than 20 years before retiring to Millerton.      

Virginia was a longtime parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Amenia. She was a member of the board of directors of the parish’s grammer school and was active in other parish activities.

In recent years she was a Eucharistic minister for the parish and a lecturer at Mass. Virginia had a strong interest in Roman Catholic collegiate education and particularly supported Thomas Moore College and Christendom College. Her religion was a significant part of her life.

She will be missed by her family and many relatives and friends.         

Virginia is survived by her children, Thomas T. Higgins and his wife, Constance Kane, of Brookline, Mass., and Ellen H. Ryan and her husband, Winfield, of Midlothian, Va.; four grandchildren, Elizabeth Higgins, Timothy Higgins, Meghan Ryan and Patricia Ryan; her brother, Robert J. Keller and his wife, Joan, of Dover Plain; and many nieces and nephews.     

A memorial service will be held at the Immaculate Conception Church in Amenia on Friday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. A burial will follow at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made  to the Immaculate Conception Church of Amenia or to Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County.

The Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon has charge of arrangements.

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