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My Gram, Agnes Higgins, was the matriarch of our very big family. She had 14 children, 36 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren, and she lived to be 103 years old. She passed away in November 2020, but so much of who she was and what she taught us is still very present in my life.
Gram believed deeply in doing for others. While raising all those children, she fundraised for her local hospital, served as PTO president, led a Boy Scout pack and Brownie troop, and took in children who were going through difficult times. Before she died, she said something I’ve carried with me ever since: “I think the most important thing is to keep busy and do for others.”
She was also one of the reasons moving back to the East Coast meant so much to me. After spending nearly 20 years in San Francisco, being closer to my family again gave me something I hadn’t had in a very long time: ordinary time together. Visits, conversations, family dinners and all of those seemingly small things become incredibly precious when you realize they aren’t unlimited.
Not long after losing her, I designed the North Star Necklace and Stellara Diamond Earrings with Gram in my mind and heart. I kept thinking about the idea of a North Star, something constant that helps orient you even when you can’t physically see it. That’s what she had become for me.
The symbolism felt especially right because Gram was one of those people who gave our family a center of gravity. She had an enormous family, an enormous capacity for caring for people and a way of reminding everyone around her to keep going and keep contributing.
I’ve always believed jewelry can hold much more than its materials. A piece can remind you of a person, a place, a chapter of your life or something you never want to forget. Sometimes the meaning comes from who gave you the jewelry. Other times, a new piece becomes the object you choose to carry a memory forward.
That sentimental side of jewelry has become an increasingly important part of the work I do, especially through Reconstruction. Sometimes the jewelry itself already carries the history. Other times, like with the pieces I designed after losing Gram, we create something new because we need a physical reminder of a person who changed us.
Gram was part of a long line of women who shaped the way I understand strength, work, family and showing up for other people. My mom has been another enormous influence in my life, and I’ve written more about her in Ode to My Mom and the Woman Who Shaped Me.
I think that’s part of why these stories keep finding their way into my work. Jewelry gives us a way to make something intangible visible. Love, grief, memory and gratitude don’t have physical forms, but sometimes a ring, necklace or pair of earrings can become the thing we reach for when we want to feel close to someone again.
You can also read more about Gram in the story I wrote for her 100th birthday. I’m so grateful I put some of those memories into words while she was still here.
Still following my North Star,
Colleen
© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: April 29, 2021
Updated: August 25, 2026
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