Maude L. Heaton

Maude L. Smith Heaton, age 92, of Kearney, died peacefully Tuesday, October 22, 2013 at the Grand Island Veterans Home. Funeral Services will be Friday, November 8, 2103 at 10:30 a.m. at the First Baptist Church with Pastor Stan Murdoch officiating. The inurnment ceremony will be at the Ft. McPherson National Cemetery near Maxwell, Nebraska at 2:30 p.m. Memorials are suggested to Kearney Area Animal Shelter. A message of condolence, tribute or memory can be left at www.hlmkfuneral.com. Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral and Cremation Service are in charge of arrangements. Maude Luella Smith Heaton was born in Cowanesque, Pennsylvania on February 20, 1921, the first to Hoyt and Helen Smith. She had a brother Percival, “Percy”, who preceded her in death. Maude was a joyful student of life embracing every experience that came her way from her first career as a nurse, to traveling around the world with her husband, Keith, during his more than 26 years of service in the US Air Force, to raising seven children, to following her entrepreneurial spirit in the sales of health and beauty products, including opening Kearney’s first Beauty for All Seasons office. She thoroughly enjoyed learning, returning to school in 1979 to attend Hastings College, and actively wrote prose and poetry throughout her life. Maude also loved animals and her backyard was a veritable haven for wildlife. Injured birds instinctively knew it was a place where they could rest and recover, and abandoned dogs and cats were always taken in, cared for, and found a home. She especially loved the beauty of the Nebraska plains, which in many ways reminded her of the country of her youth, as she wrote, “Our love for this beautiful place was instantaneous and complete, and in our minds it had already become our home, just as surely as the one we had left behind years earlier. It was as though we had found again a little piece of our beloved Pennsylvania, tucked away in a hidden valley in Mid-Nebraska.” Surviving relatives include daughters; DeLorres and Pat Pepicelli of Gloucester, MA, Gail Bridenbaker of Green Mountain Falls, CO, Linda and David MacIntyre of Wichita, KS, Kathy and Patrick Wherritt of Wichita, KS, sons; Keith Jr. and Patti Heaton of Kearney, NE, Mark Heaton of Kearney, NE, Kern Heaton and Robyn Reed-Heaton of Kearney, NE, sister in law; Martha and Ron Sanford of Painted Post, NY, grandchildren; Trent Pepicelli, Deanna McDougal, Jared MacIntyre, Jolynn MacIntyre, Balin Heaton, Tyson Heaton, Stephen Heaton, Nicholas Heaton, Jessica Heaton and Emma Heaton, Great Grandchildren; Meghan and Jake LeBeau, Alex Heaton, Tessa and Kristie Bridenbaker, Taelyn Heaton, Sean Gall Jr., and Vivien Gall, nieces; Irene Fitch, Julie Sanford, Kim Slade, and Karen Mirabelli, nephews; Tim and Chris Heaton and their spouses and children. PDF Printable Version

Tributes

Maude L. Heaton

October 22, 2013 - October 22, 2013