Wilma Hughes Higgins

Wilma (Hughes) Higgins passed away peacefully February 1, 2026 at her apartment at Garden Plaza in Post Falls, Idaho. She was 89 years young.

Wilma was born April 7,1936 in Salmon, Idaho, to Raymond and Edna Hoy. The family moved to Dillon Montana, where Wilma attended school. It was while she was waitressing at a diner, in Dillon, she met Ed, and later married, having 4 boys, Mike, Pat, Bret, and Kelly. Wilma was not only a Mom to her 4 boys, but to many, many, other kids in Post Falls.

Wilma acquired a certain toughness and no-nonsense personality, raising her 4 boys and Ed. The neighborhood Moms would congregate frequently around Wilma’s dining room table, drinking coffee smoking cigarettes, engaged in animated conversation, about the lack of fairness, being a wife and Mom. Doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, yardwork, and more, with absolutely no help from the husband or kids. It was around this time, the miners at Bunker Hill, in Kellogg, settled a strike. This gave Wilma the idea, and she organized all the Mom’s in the area and went on strike. No more cooking, cleaning, laundry, yardwork and more. They blocked a main intersection in the area, marching, carrying picket signs, with a loud speaker, making all kinds of trouble. Both TV stations in Spokane, the Spokesman Review, CDA Press, and the Post Falls Tribune, all converged on the site to cover their first Moms on Strike story. The strike was settled the 2nd day, and all the husbands and kids gave in to the Mom’s demands, including a Mom’s day off. That was Wilma.

After her boys were grown, Wilma and Ed divorced. It was later, she met and married Kenny Higgins, the love of her life. Along with that marriage, came a new sister to the boys, Donna, Kenny’s daughter. Kenny and Wilma traveled the country in their motorhome, settling down on the river in Good Grief Idaho.

Wilma had many things in her life that made her glow with pride, but one of her favorite things was attending and watching her son, Kelly, perform his music at concerts and shows. One very proud Mom.

Wilma is preceded in death by her father, Raymond and mother Edna Hoy, sisters Margaret, and Betty, brother Ray, Ed Hughes and Kenny Higgins.

She is survived by her 4 sons, Mike (Susan), Pat (Patti), Bret (Becky), and Kelly (Cathy) and her daughter-in-law Donna (Buddy), her sisters, Dean Campbell, Janet (David) Oakley, along with 8 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, many nieces and nephews.

Right up to a few weeks before her passing, you could count on her and sister Jan, at The Bunker Bar, partaking in their daily whiskey & water. Here’s to you Mom, We love you.

A Celebration of Wilma’s Life, will be held on June 3, 2026, at Nashville North State Line, Idaho from 3-6pm.

Any gift donations, please bless the North Idaho Veterans Assistance League, 590 S. Pleasant View Road, Post Falls, Idaho 83854.