Obituary of Grayce Lynwood Higgins

Grayce Lynwood Higgins June 14, 1928 — April 10, 2017 Grayce Lynwood Higgins passed away quietly in her sleep at her home in Vancouver, Washington on Monday, April 10, 2017. She was nearly 89 years old. Grayce was born in Los Angeles on June 14, 1928 to Helen and Manning Fitch. The family relocated often during Grayce’s childhood, as her father was a mining engineer. In her teens, the family settled in Klamath Falls, where Grayce attended high school. She was runner-up in the Miss Klamath Falls pageant in 1946. Grayce continued to win beauty pageant awards in her 60s and 70s. In June 1946, Grayce married George Matt Walters, who had recently returned from combat duties with the Air Force in Europe. The couple had four children. After more than 33 years of marriage, George died suddenly in 1979. Grayce continued to work at US Bank, from which she eventually retired in 1988 as Assistant Manager of the Installment Loan Department. Grayce then worked as the secretary for the United Methodist Church in Corvallis and as an office manager for a dental office. In 2001, at the age of 73, Grayce studied for and received her real estate license and sold properties around Woodburn for many years. Grayce was married to Arthur Higgins from 1987 until his death in 1998. The couple lived in Corvallis and Dallas. From 2006 to 2011, she was married to Lehman (Lee) Lamb and resided in Woodburn. After Lee’s death, Grayce moved to The Bedford Retirement Home in Vancouver with her little dog Moose. At the Bedford, Grayce was Queen of the Red Hats in 2012, edited and wrote the local newsletter, The Buzz, and was an Avon representative. (As she had been in Happy Camp, California in the 1960s.) On Valentine’s Day 2017, Grayce and Richard Filion were married in Vancouver. Dick lovingly cared for Grayce to the last moments of her life – and beyond. Her sister, Phyllis Fitch, and brother, Harold Fitch, are deceased. Above all, Grayce should be remembered as an artist: a painter, a singer, an actress, performing the lead roles in “On Golden Pond” and in “Little Women”, and a writer. She published three novels after she was 80. She is survived by sons; Jeffrey Matt, currently of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Timothy Mack, of Berlin, Germany, and Michael Grayson, of Battle Ground, Washington; and daughter Susan Ellen, of Palm Desert, California. In addition, Grayce is survived by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Grayce’s memorial – she specifically requested that it should be “a celebration of life” – will be at 11a.m. on April 29, 2017 at the Vancouver Heights Methodist Church, 5701 MacArthur Boulevard in Vancouver. The family requests that flowers should not be delivered to Cascadia. Memorial donations may be made to the Humane Society of the Willamette Valley (https://whs4pets.org/donate/make-a-one-time-gift/tribute/) or to any local Humane Society.