Jim Higgins, a consummate outdoorsman but wheelchair-confined for the past four years, passed away on February 16, 2026, at the McClure Miller Respite House with his life partner, Joan Irving, at his side. He was 84. Born in Danbury, Conn., Jim moved to Vermont as a young social worker to be closer to wilderness adventuring. He was physically big and had an imposing presence. Even with his face dripping blood from blackfly bites, he was at his happiest in a canoe on running or still water, or heading out on skis on a late winter afternoon when his friends were already basking in the warmth of the woodstove. “Wish me luck!” he’d say with a wry smile.
One of Jim’s favorite adventures was as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1964 and 1965, teaching English and math at the Government Technical Training School in Ilorin, Western Nigeria. He traveled widely in Africa while based at GTTS. Upon his return to the U.S., he continued adventure travel there with his sister, Moira, a Pan Am stewardess with flying privileges. Listening to and engaging with his African students and friends prepared Jim for endeavors that became the core of his life: fighting for social and environmental justice.
In 1969 Jim earned an MA in linguistics from Northwestern University in Chicago and later an MA in social work from the University of Connecticut. Specializing in psychiatric social work, he began his career just as state psychiatric hospitals were deinstitutionalizing. Jim and his brother-in-law to be, Joe Kailukaitis, saw firsthand in Connecticut the challenges of integrating former patients into their communities. Jim soon moved to Vermont and worked at the Vermont State Hospital, then Lamoille County Mental Health, and finally at the Counseling Service of Addison County, where he was a mainstay for 22 years. Clients and colleagues alike were fond of Jim, not only because he went all out for them in hard times but also because he was gentle and respectful, with a fine ironic sense of humor. In 1990 Jim was named Social Worker of the Year in Vermont.
He had deep convictions about human rights, especially Indigenous rights, and about protecting wild land. An ardent writer of letters to the editor of newspapers throughout Vermont and beyond, he also campaigned unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state representative for Underhill. In the 1980s and 1990s, from his rural home near Lincoln, Jim organized and demonstrated with southern and northern friends — Cree, Inuit and Innu — to save the great rivers of northern Québec and Labrador from being dammed for hydroelectric development. He was particularly concerned about the subsequent loss of land and burial grounds and the displacement of Native people. When the northern Cree were fighting Hydro-Québec’s planned phase-two project to dam the Great Whale River, Jim spearheaded the Vermont Coalition to Save James Bay. He remained a committed environmentalist throughout his life.
After retiring, Jim moved to the Adirondacks. He and Joan Irving, a Canadian whom he’d met several years earlier at the Montréal Jazz Festival, had purchased a house overlooking Lake Champlain. Together they explored the Adirondacks, on water and on snow, and spent time with friends and family across their two countries. But a bad car accident, followed by a fall down the stairs in their old farmhouse, necessitated Jim’s eventual return to Vermont.
Jim is mourned by Joan Irving and her son, Kyle Irving-Moroz, and grandchild, Oscar, all of Montréal; sister, Moira, and her husband, Joe Kailukaitis, of Greenville, Texas; his nieces, Jocelyn and Andrea, and their families; and his many friends in Burlington and Montréal. He is predeceased by his father, James Joseph Higgins, born in South Boston; mother, Coletta (Massoth), born in Piqua, Kan.; and brother, Thomas, who died young from injuries of a motorcycle accident.
Joan and David Boedy, Jim’s longtime paddling buddy, are grateful to the staff of Green Mountain Nursing Home. Jim’s caregivers there treated him with admirable kindness and respect.
An in-person gathering to share stories about Jim’s life and passions is scheduled for March 21, 2026, 1 p.m., in the neighborhood pool house adjacent to 401 Brand Farm Dr., South Burlington, VT. Those unable to attend in person may contact davidboedy3@gmail.com to request a WhatsApp invitation.