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Orange County Woman, 42, Dies After Being Pulled From Water At Jersey Shore

A 42-year-old Hudson Valley resident died on Thursday from injuries sustained in an accident while visiting the New Jersey shore.

Erin Higgins

Erin Higgins

Photo Credit: Contributed

Erin Higgins, a resident of Harriman in Orange County since 2015 who was raised in Wappingers Falls, died at a hospital in Asbury Park after being pulled from the ocean.

Higgins and a 54-year-old man from Wallkill in Orange County were swimming in chest-deep water in the mid-afternoon when they apparently got caught in a rip current, according to Asbury Park Police.

Higgins was employed as a licensed clinical social worker for Hudson Valley Mental Health, Inc. in Beacon. She had also worked at A Counseling Service in Monroe. She previously lived in New Windsor.

She was born in Greenwich, CT on March 17, 1975. She was a 1994 graduate of Roy C. Ketcham High School then went on to Dutchess Community College, SUNY New Paltz, and Adelphi University where she received her Master’s Degree. 

She is survived by her parents, Thomas and Betty (Sabourin) Higgins of Wappingers Falls; her sisters, Erica Higgins-Webster and her husband Robert of Guilderland and Melissa Higgins and her husband Rafael Cuello of New Windsor; her nephews, Nathaniel Webster, Samuel Webster, Noah Webster, Daniel Higgins, and Thomas “TJ” Higgins; her niece, Vanessa Higgins; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

She enjoyed spending time with her nephews and niece, and loved being a “second” mom to them.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1  p.m. at St. Mary, Mother of the Church, 106 Jackson Street in Fishkill.

Erin’s was an organ donor. Donations may be made in Erin’s memory to the Dutchess County SPCA, 636 Violet Avenue, Hyde Park, NY 12538.

Arrangements are under the direction of the McHoul Funeral Home of Fishkill, Inc. 

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