Penelope Bee Higgins | Port Townsend guide

Penelope Bee Higgins

She came to Port Townsend as Penelope Dorado when the Hood Canal Bridge sank and moved into Taylor Street with her sister Margaret Powell. She immediately went to work for Forest Aldrich, then started a catering company and soon became the first evening cook at the Fountain Café, where she met her future husband, William Higgins, in 1987. run the galley with Penelope.

Penelope had a wonderful palate and was considered a very good cook and great taster. In addition to the kitchen, she was interested in textiles, history, travel, and a love of small animals – she always had a pet cat. Everyone who knew her considered her a kind, generous, and thoughtful woman.

In 1989 she entered the Medical Lab Technology program at Peninsula College. Upon graduation, she began working at the Puget Sound Blood Center. In March 1991, Bill and Penelope married in Victoria, BC, and moved to Seattle because of their career changes. Penelope retired in 2002. In 2014 Bill retired from IT and the two happily moved back to Port Townsend, Penelope’s last residence.

She is survived by her husband, Bill; by her sister Margaret Phillips and her brother-in-law Bart Phillips now in Vancouver, Washington; and the siblings Peter Powell, Patric Powell, and Pamela Powell. She had numerous nieces and nephews from her siblings. She was particularly close to her niece Leah Masci (1990 PTHS class); to her nephew, Mike Phillips (PTHS class of ’99); and to her stepdaughter Emily Loving Higgins (PTHS class of ’91); and stepson David Higgins.

On February 13, 2021, she suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage from us and she died painlessly on March 4th at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma. A private family ceremony will be held in Vancouver, Washington, later that summer.