Higgins was born in British-controlled Hong Kong, on September 3, 1920. She was the only child of Lawrence Daniel Higgins, an American who had served as a pilot in World War I, and Marguerite Goddard, a French woman he had met while in Europe. Early in her life, Higgins contracted malaria and was taken to Vietnam to recover in a treatment center there. When she was three, her father left his job with a Hong Kong shipping company and took his family to Oakland, California. Her family did not fare well in their attempts to adjust to life in suburban, middle-class America. After losing his job as a stockbroker, due to the stock market crash of 1929, Lawrence Higgins secured a position as a bank manager. Dissatisfied with his life, Lawrence Higgins began to drink heavily. His wife went to work as a French teacher to help boost the family income, but she too experienced distress that manifested itself in fainting spells. Their daughter, meanwhile, distinguished herself as an excellent student. Already fluent in a number of languages due to her international background, she received a scholarship to attend the Anna Head school in Berkeley where her mother taught.
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