Obituary for Molly Higginson
HIGGINSON, Mary Margaret (Molly)
1944 – 2023
With profound sadness we announce the passing of Molly Higginson, peacefully at home with her family, from pancreatic cancer, on July 21st, 2023.
Molly lived her life with remarkable dedication and determination, generosity and grace. We are grateful for the many memories, a life well-lived, and the inspiration she provides.
Molly is survived by her loving daughter Kate Higginson and son-in-law Daniel Knapp, and her beloved granddaughters Asha and Beatrice Higginson. Molly was predeceased by her parents Jean and Sandy Innes and is the cherished sister of Kathy Innes and John Innes (Dianne) and aunt of Holly Huehn (John) and their daughter Emily, and the late Sandy Innes (Heather) and their children Will, Ben and Sam. She will be sadly missed by her extended family, her many friends and colleagues, and Bill Higginson (Annie Barwise).
Molly grew up happily at Trailynd, her family’s beautiful dairy farm near Brantford. Her love of learning brought her to Queen’s University in 1962, where she graduated with an Honours degree in Mathematics, with a minor in Philosophy. After graduation, Molly and her fiancé Bill Higginson joined CUSO for a 2-year teaching posting to East Africa. Molly appreciated her time in Uganda and the chance to teach advanced mathematics to young women at Trinity College Nabbingo, where she and Bill were married in 1967.
In the late 1960s, Molly discovered a passion for computer programming, landed a job as a developer in Cambridge UK, and completed a Master’s in Computer Science at the University of Alberta. Returning to Kingston in 1973, Molly co-founded the software firm Andyne Computing, where for the next 25 years she developed a successful graphical query language for database software. Andyne grew for many years before being acquired by Hummingbird and then by Open Text.
Always compassionate and community-minded, Molly volunteered with many organizations, including the Ban Righ Women’s Centre, Kingston Arts Council, John Howard Society, Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association, Kingston Grandmother’s Connection, and the Osu Children’s Library Fund. After retiring in 2003, Molly travelled to Accra to help coordinate the construction of the Nungua Community Library.
Details will be announced at a later date for both a celebration of Molly’s life and a tribute in her name.
I miss Molly deeply. Generosity and compassion stand out as traits I will always associate with her. A lovely obituary, thank you.