Katherine Banfield Higgins was born on December 23, 1880 in Bilston, Staffordshire, England. Her father, Joseph Higgins, was born November 18, 1845, in Highlands, Staffordshire, England, and died of typhoid fever November 5th, 1881 in Bilston. Her mother, also named Catherine Banfield Higgins, was the daughter of George and Sarah Banfield. Catherine was born March 15th, 1847, in Allfields, Staffordshire, England, and died May 16, 1922 in Los Angeles, California. When Katherine was only 11 months old, her father Joseph died. Her mother Catherine decided to move with her five children to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where her own parents had already moved.

While Katherine was still young, her family moved to Elwood, Indiana, a small manufacturing town in central Indiana. Although she had originally been brought up in the Episcopal Church, Katherine and her mother joined The Methodist Episcopal Church, where Catherine dedicated to commit her life to service. Higgins was trained in social work at Chicago Commons, University of Chicago, Olivet Institutional Church, and Hull House in Chicago.

In 1915, Higgins accepted a position with the Methodist Church to start welfare work for Latin Americans in the Los Angeles area. Higgins served on the Methodist Board of Latin American Missions and founded a medical and dental center, an employment office, and the first Goodwill Store in Los Angeles, located on the site of La Plaza United Methodist Church. Katherine Higgins died in 1967.