Memorializing

Twyla Higgins passed away peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on December 16, 2023.

Born in Passaic, New Jersey on March 6, 1958, Twyla was an adventurous firebrand of a woman with long red hair and a bright smile who rarely let an obstacle stop her from reaching her life goals.

She was fearless in her youth, from pushing through crowds to stand front and center at hundreds of concerts, to going wilderness camping and canoeing in Maine and New Hampshire by herself, as well as with friends, to taking the yearly “Polar Bear Plunge” Challenge for a New Year’s Day ocean dip, and sometimes skinny dipping at the beach on hot summer nights.

Spending summer and autumn nights around the fire-pit talking and laughing with her partner, Bill, and other company was another favorite activity. As time passed, Twyla’s interest in music and concerts remained, but she preferred reading, gardening, and tending her property.

The fourth of six siblings, Twyla lived in southeastern Massachusetts until moving to a western MA commune with her mother, her two sisters, and her younger brother when she was 13. She left the commune at 16 and moved in with family in Colorado for a year or so before heading back East. She settled in RI in the 1980’s. In 2004 she bought her home in Pawtucket, where she remained until her passing.

Twyla earned her Associate Degree in Nursing from the Community College of Rhode Island in 1991. In 2016 she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rhode Island College. Twyla’s passion was diabetes education and she loved her work.

Twyla leaves her partner Bill Blair of Pawtucket, RI, her siblings Clarke Higgins of Middleboro, MA, Jerri Higgins and partner Andy Kostecki of Montague Center, MA, Jacki Pinger and husband Andy Pinger of Brattleboro, VT, and Marc Brousseau and wife Dorothy Brousseau of Claremont, NH. She also leaves her nephew Austen Bartels (nee Higgins-Cassidy) and wife Mikaela Bartels of Malden, MA, and her niece Amealia Brousseau and wife Alexandra Elias of Orchard Park, NY. Twyla was predeceased by her mother, Doe (nee Doris) Brousseau, her father, Alan Higgins, and her brother, Scott Higgins.

Memorial contributions can be made to the National Scleroderma Foundation or to organizations preserving our oceans and wild spaces.

Dimitra Clark

August 27, 1959 – May 6, 2023

Dimitra was a lover of knowledge, devour-er of books (especially science fiction and science discoveries), and she was also a vocalist with a beautiful, clear voice who loved many musical genres, and who sang back-up in various bands as a teen and continued singing with individuals and groups throughout her life, as well as having sung in the Greenfield Community College Choir for several years in the early to mid-1980’s.

She enjoyed playing a range of video games from Zelda, and Myst, to other interesting finds. She especially enjoyed all things Star Trek, and was so excited when William Shatner got to orbit the earth on the Blue Origin rocket ship in 2021.

Dimitra was also a writer who spent years honing her craft. She had so many ideas for books, especially her favorite Science Fiction genre, and she was developing an online marketing business to teach writing.

As a lifelong scholar, Dimitra’s thirst for knowledge, understanding, justice, and compassion was unceasing.

Her spirit and life animals were cats, and she had many throughout her life. Dimitra saw and felt her devoted cat, Skitty, every day while she battled body-ravaging cancer in the last weeks of her life, even though Skitty’s physical body was miles away at home. Dimitra said that Skitty would lay curled up to her neck every night.

Dimitra was a devoted and generous friend and parent who treated all children in her life as she would her own. She raised five children, mainly by herself, and worked several jobs just to keep her children clothed and housed. Her love, wit, and great humor filled in many rough spots along the way.

Through a childhood filled with deep trauma and neglect, she found a way to break those chains for her children to be free, even if lifting those chains off of herself proved too onerous.

Her love and care was apparent through her children’s, and daughter-in-law Audrey’s, devotion, and all of her children: Brendan, Moriah, Levi, David (and his wife Audrey) and Sam, were by her side in the last weeks of her life, along with her adored grandchildren, Penny and Milo, who all surrounded her with love and care. Her best friend, Jerri, was also able to come out to see her, and Dimitra was such an amazing friend that she asked for less pain medication so she could be present for Jerri’s visit – even though it cost her more comfort.

Any who wish to donate for Dimitra’s medical expenses can contribute through her family’s GoFundMe account:

https://gofund.me/8bb65d9d