Entering the world on June 30, 1943, Bryon was the only child born to Carl and Jean Higgs.  While he and his parents lived in the town of Huntsville, Bryon fondly recollected Christmas celebrations on the Higgs family farm - recalling that he would go from house to house emptying the candy bowl at each stop only to find it refilled by the time he re-started the circuit.  

Bryon's Father remarried when he was in Highschool and they moved to McKellar Ontario.  Bryon had fond memories of his Stepmother Peggie who was a very important person in his life.  

After Highschool Bryon  attended Western University (UWO) to study to become a Teacher.  During summer breaks he held the unique summer job of being stationed in a Fire Tower at Go Home Bay.  

Bryon met Janet at UWO and they married in 1967.  Bryon and Janet had 3 children in span of 22 months - Heather in 1971, Kelly in 1972 and Chris in 1973.  Bryon was a very devoted father who was active in every aspect of his children's lives whether it was coaching softball, cheering at swim meets or teaching all three of his children to play piano and later helping them with their chosen instruments of clarinet (Heather) trombone (Kelly) and baritone (Chris).  Bryon remained active in his children's lives throughout their adulthood and we will greatly miss his wise guidance and steady, loving presence in our lives.   In 2017, Bryon and Janet celebrated 50 years of marriage.   

Bryon taught Highschool for 2 years in Wingham Ontario prior to moving to Elmira District Secondary School in 1968 where he taught until his retirement in 1999.  Bryon had the good fortune to teach subjects that he loved - primarily history and economics.  He was active in leading many extracurricular activities including a clarinet quintet called "Good Things Come in Fives".  He also supported the concert band and stage band playing both clarinet and saxophone.  In encountering his former students over the years the comment he heard from them most frequently was they he taught them how to write an essay and that this skill served them well both in their post-secondary studies as well as their careers.  

Outside of school Bryon enjoyed spending time on his hobbies - particularly gardening and music.  Bryon was an accomplished musician who played piano, clarinet and saxphone and spent many happy years playing clarinet in the Waterloo Concert Band.  

Bryon retired from teaching in 1999 and enjoyed many different pursuits during his retirement.  In 2003 Bryon managed the campaign for Liberal MPP candidate Deborah Whale.    While he needed to slow down a bit after experiencing a stroke in 2004, he and Janet still managaged to travel, visiting Malaysia to attend Chris' wedding, Alaska, Ireland, Europe and the various parts of the USA.  

One of his main activities in retirement was becoming a financial advisor,  tirelessly researching the markets and very successfully managing prosperous investment accounts for family members and friends.  

Bryon experienced great joy in his role as a grandfather to Maya (born in 2001) and Elena (born in 2004).  Heather recalls that he frequently appeared at her door when Maya was young just to play with her for a few hours.  

Bryon's life was greatly enriched by many friendships.  For years he and Janet met with the same group to play Bridge.  After discovering the internet in the 1990s Bryon went on to make many meaningful and life-enriching friendships online with people who shared his interests in gardening and investing.  

Bryon had a lifelong love of dogs and in his retirement greatly enjoyed his collies.  Kelly recalls seeing a photo of her holding one of collie puppies which Bryon had captioned "Two of my Children, Kelly and Keeper".  As with everything he did, he whole-heartedly embraced his role as "Collie-Dad" - learning how to groom them, brush their teeth,  diligently researching the best food to give them, teaching them to obey hand signals and baking them special dog treats.  One of his favourite activities was to take the collies for a walk on Kissing Bridge trail.  He enjoyed watching the collies have fun as well as seeing all of the "trail regulars".  

On November 19, 2017 Bryon woke up and noticed he was having difficultly moving his left arm.  When he tried to type an email to Kelly later that day and struggled to do so he knew that he needed medical attention.  He was taken by ambulance to hospital to Grand River Hospital and after many tests was diagnosed with having a brain tumor on November 20.  The 13 days that followed were incredibly difficult as Bryon lost the use of his left arm and leg while waiting to be transferred to Hamilton General Hospital for neurosurgery.  Despite all of the adversity he experienced during this frightening time Bryon managed to retain his sense of humour, quipping that perhaps he should be given Donald Trump's brain since "he obviously isn't using it" and encouraging his Hospitalist to take a magic marker to his CT scan to make his tumour appear larger so that he might be given higher priority for the transfer to Hamilton.  

Bryon was finally transferred to Hamilton on December 4 but unfortunately experienced a very sharp decline just after arriving from which he never recovered.  During emergency surgery it was discovered that he did not have a brain tumour, rather he had a brain abcess.  While he survived the surgery, he never fully regained concsiousness due to the damage caused by the infection that created the abcess deep within his brain.  Bryon died two weeks after the surgery surrounded by his family.  We will always be grateful to the the Hamilton General Neurology Team as well as the ICU East nurses for the exceptional care they provided to Bryon and for the support they provided to us during this very difficult period.