Montpelier, VT Thérèse Higgins passed away unexpectedly at her home in Montpelier on April 9, 2021. Born in Québec City on November 4, 1928 to Charles-Eugène and Amarilda Malenfant, she was the eleventh of fourteen children. She attended schools in Québec and learned enough English to work as a telephone operator for Bell Canada. Thérèse started skiing in her twenties and sometimes visited Stowe with her friends. On one such occasion, she met Ed Higgins there, and they were married on July 4, 1959. They raised their family in Montpelier and every winter weekend was spent skiing. She was also passionate about tennis, playing well into her 80's. She was active in the community, including organizing rummage sales for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, working at the State House Gift Shop, and helping out at the Alzheimer's Association. Thérèse volunteered at City Hall during elections, even checking in voters on her 80th birthday for the 2008 Presidential Election. She also volunteered at the Montpelier Food Pantry right up until the pandemic hit, and never quite understood why she couldn't return even after being fully vaccinated. At 25, Thérèse travelled by ocean liner to Europe. In retirement, she returned three times, and particularly enjoyed being welcomed into her ancestral home in Normandy, like a long lost cousin, by the current residents. She also visited Alaska and was proud of hiking up a mountain there at the age of 84. She is survived by her three children and their spouses, Michele Hill (Roger), Marc Higgins (Beatriz Lopez), and Robert Higgins (Tracey); six grandchildren and their spouses, Jocelyn Pateta (Richard) and Dylan Hill (Elizabeth Green), Nicholas and Christopher Higgins, and Carter and Spencer Higgins; and two great-grandchildren, Maisie Hill and Ana Pateta, along with baby Harvey Hill, due in May. Also surviving are her brother Jean-Paul Malenfant and sister Gabrielle Bilodeau, sisters-in-law Fernande Malenfant and Louise Malenfant, and many nieces and nephews. Thérèse was predeceased by her husband Edward Higgins, infant granddaughter Madeline Higgins, siblings Marie-Jeanne, Gilberte, Martin, Marcel, Fernande, Francoise, Roland, Lucienne, Jean-Louis, Lucien, and Charles-Henri, sisters-in-law Adrienne Malenfant, Elisabeth Malenfant, Natalie Higgins, Adele Walters, and Beatrice Turner, and brothers-in-law Clément Bilodeau and Drew Turner. She would not have been able to stay in her home without the fantastic support of her Freedom Drive neighbors and visiting nurses, for which her family is grateful. Services will be held in Montpelier once the Canadian border reopens. Contributions in Thérèse's memory may be made to the Montpelier Food Pantry.