Rita Lynch Higgins

""Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is."" – Mary Ann Radmacher Beloved mother, grandmother , great-grandmother, cousin, and friend to all who knew her, passed peacefully into the hands of the Lord surrounded in her last hours by her family and friends. Rita, an only child, was preceded in death by her parents Thomas and Alberta Lynch and her husband, James Higgins. A Denver native, she graduated from St. Mary's Academy, and attended the University of Colorado, Boulder where she joined Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. She had a wide range of interests, activities, and hobbies enjoying music and the theater in particular. She learned to play the piano in childhood and enjoyed playing through much of her life. As a child, she developed a love of marionettes, creating and performing original pieces with her childhood best friend. Rita taught her children to perform these pieces as well and enriched the lives of thousands of children at birthday parties and holiday events in the greater Denver area. She would occasionally perform these shows into her early 80's. She loved the theater, opera and ballet and was a childhood friend of Colorado Ballet founder, Lillian Covillo, who taught Karen to be a professional dancer. Rita loved volunteering at The Denver Center Theater when it first opened. Rita was a long-time member of St. Vincent de Paul Parish including the Altar & Rosary Society and more recently Risen Christ Catholic Church. Rita played bridge from an early age. She exercised at the Glendale Community Center with the Silver Sneakers and made many friends. She was active in Soroptomist International, where she was a past president. Rita worked for many years at Welcome Wagon where she became Regional Manager for Colorado. She worked later at Murray Equipment Company and retired from Crown Lift Trucks. Her grandchildren called her ""Grandma Her-Her"" -- a name that stuck when her oldest grandchild was very young and was asked to give something to ""her"". The grandchildren always could count on Her-Her to participate in the milestones of their lives and her regular visits no matter how far she needed to travel to be there. Her children and grandchildren remember fondly the ""care"" packages she sent because they always contained her classic caramel fudge brownies. She was always thinking of others and finding ways to make their day a little sweeter. Rita is survived by her four children: Sue Clarke (Bruce) of Topeka, KS, Karen Goodson (Russ) of Denver, Tom Higgins (Kim) of Littleton, and Mary Studlick (Joe) of Houston, TX. She was a grandmother to Suzanne Zurn, Robert Clarke, James Clarke, Nicole Sanchez, Bryan Alley and Elizabeth Studlick. She had five great-grandchildren: Alexander Clarke, Philip Zurn, Montana and Sierra Sanchez, and Matthew Clarke. Karen has numerous step children and step grandchildren and Rita was beloved by them as well. She was forever grateful to her many cousins for their love and friendship. She always reached out across the miles to relatives in Canada and Ireland. She traveled to Ireland, England and to visit Bruce and Sue in Germany with her husband and later, to Italy, Ireland and France with her daughter Mary's family. Wherever Rita went she always had her collection of cameras—still and motion. She recently was having her old 8mm home movies converted to digital format. This was her way of both showing you that she cared—she was photographing you—and remembering because she was proud to show you her movies at every opportunity. Her neighbors were always there for her and we cannot thank them enough. Her most cherished caretakers were important to her. Both Lois Yackley and Gwen Chambers enhanced our Rita's life these last many years with loving care and enjoyment. A service to celebrate her life will be held Monday, January 4th at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 1091 S. Colorado Boulevard. There will be a Rosary at 11:30 with a Funeral Service at noon and a luncheon reception to follow. Her interment is the following day at Fort Logan National Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her honor to St. Mary's Academy. 4545 S University Blvd, Englewood 80113 or to Colorado Ballet, 1075 Santa Fe Drive, Denver 80204. Please share a memory of Rita with the family by visiting the Guestbook link.