The campaign for a bronze bust of Pacific Northwest author Ella Rhoads Higginson has been fully funded! Big thanks are due for the generous donations of so many people, including many of you. It was a joy to meet with all of you who understand the vital importance of honoring forgotten women writers.

Special gratitude goes to two very significant donors: the Dorr Foundation, founded by descendants of Ella Higginson’s husband, Russell Carden Higginson, very generously donated $10,000 to this project that honors one of their own. Western Washington University, home to the Ella Higginson Papers, and early beneficiary of Higginson’s support of education, provided substantial matching funds, matching each donation 1:1.

The life-size and a half bronze bust is being created this summer. It will be installed in Western Washington University's Wilson Library and unveiled during a celebratory ceremony, tentatively scheduled for mid-October. After long neglect, Ella Higginson, once-famous author and first Poet Laureate of the great State of Washington, will be prominently honored on Western’s campus.

Please look for your invitation to the unveiling, coming in the fall.

Thanks to all for such wonderful support!

Laura Laffrado

Professor, Department of English

Western Washington University

Bellingham, WA 98225

360/650-2886; Laura.Laffrado@wwu.edu