Marillyn Maxted Higgins Olmstead "Perky"

Marillyn Maxted Higgins Olmstead “Perky” August 19, 1918 – September 6, 2009 Born in Western Springs Illinois, Marillyn was the second child and only daughter of Evaline Ruth Horner and Frederick John Maxted. In the late -1930s, the family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where Marillyn finished high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in New London in 1940 with a B.A. in Home Economics. In 1941 she received a degree in Nutrition from Merritt College in Detroit, Michigan. In college, she acquired the name Perky that followed her throughout her life, a tribute to her indefatigable energy and upbeat temperament. She worked as a dietician in New Haven before marrying Edmund Fessenden “Ted” Higgins on March 6th 1943. The couple moved to the Philadelphia area and raised their children in Penn Valley and Gladwyne. Ted dies tragically November 12, 1962, leaving her a widow with four children, the youngest several weeks shy of his ninth birthday. In June 1992, largely because she and Ted had once owned a summer home on Quaker Neck, she moved to Heron Point in Chestertown, M.D. On April 10th, 1994, she married William W. “Bill” Olmstead, who died July 19th, 2003. An accomplished birder, she was a founding member of the Riverbend Environmental Education Center, in Gladwyne, PA, where she served on the Board of Directors for many years. She was a member of many local birding groups and traveled the world on birding tours. She was active in the Connecticut College Club of Philadelphia, St. Christopher’s Church, Gladwyne, and an avid golfer, a member of the Philadelphia Country Club and the Chester River Yacht and Country Club. She is survived by four children: Catherine Ruth Higgins, of Bryn Mawr, P.A.; Margaret Whitney Higgins Bowker, of Bowling Green K.Y.; and Marilyn Higgins Bruce, of Whitefish, Mont.; and Edmund Safford Higgins, of Charleston, S.C.; and six grandchildren: George Edmund Bowker, Richard Higgins Bowker, John Whitney Bowker, Edmund Fessenden Higgins, Grady Anderson Higgins, and Marilyn Vernett Bruce; and by a brother, George Allister Maxted, of Naples, F.L. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October, 10th at 11:00 A.M. in Wesley Hall at Heron Point in Chestertown, MD. Interment will be in Gladwyne, PA at a later date. Memorials in lieu of flowers should be sent to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, P.O. Box 17447, Baltimore M.D., 21298-9104. Arrangements by Fellows, Helfenbein, and Newnam Funeral Home Chestertown, MD www.fhnfuneralhome.com

Marillyn Maxted Higgins Olmstead "Perky"

August 19, 1918 - September 6, 2009