Joyce Ann Love Heiman's Obituary
Joyce Ann Love Heiman, 95, passed away on Friday, July 30, 2021. She was born December 18, 1925 to Edgar and Abye Love, in Cameron Texas. She was their second (and last) child to her slightly older brother Joe Edgar. As a Santa Fe Railroad family, they made stops in Sweetwater, MacGregor, Milano, Rockdale, before settling in Temple.
Joyce completed the schools in Temple, including her first year of college at Temple Junior College. She was one of the oldest surviving members of her high school class.
After a year at a year at Temple Junior College, she attended and graduated from Baylor University in 1947 with a degree in education and psychology.
Always the artist, she expressed her work through painting, knitting, crochet, and instilled in her children the love of crafts and artistic projects. It was something she did all her life. She was a good role model for women in general and her family in particular.
While she was teaching school in Columbus, Texas, living with her brother and his bride Anita, she got to be friends with the young man living across the street, John Heiman. He also happened to be the Principal and Coach of the school where she taught.
Completing a proper courtship, they married on Christmas Eve of 1949 in Austin, where her brother was now a Pastor.
Joyce’s dad was now a tenured office employee of the Santa Fe Railroad in Temple. He was able to help John with getting a job with the Santa Fe. While his Father in Law stayed in Temple for most of his 47 years with the railway, John and Joyce took the transfers as they became available.
Those transfers led them to Fort Worth, Texas City, Houston, New Orleans, St. Louis and Dallas. Joyce never lost her distinctive Texas accent wherever she went. And she taught school to provide additional income for the family.
With her brother now Pastor in Alice, Texas, they made several trips to see him. Their favorite place to eat was a new place called “Whataburger”. It was owned by one of the Deacons in his church. They had a hamburger unlike anywhere else.
After an overture from Santa Fe to move the family to Chicago, Joyce and John began to look for other opportunities. Remembering the Whataburger experience, they began to investigate it further. Through some influence from her brother’s deacon, they were able to negotiate a franchise in Mesquite, at a location they frequently passed to and from Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church.
After the first unit opened in 1969, Joyce continued to teach school in Mesquite “just in case things didn’t go well”. Well, things did go well- so well that Joyce would come in after a hard days’ teaching and cook fries for the evening business and on the weekends.
It wasn’t until their third store she decided maybe things would be okay and she could just work in the office.
She had an amazing life and great friends with whom they saw the sun rise and set on several continents. They provided jobs for thousands of people over the years, and maybe that was what made them the most proud.
“Mrs. Heiman” was loved by the many that knew her and she truly cared about those in return. Until the end, she wanted to know that “our people” were being taken care of.
Joyce was always dedicated to John, never more so than the last few years of his life. She was always there for him, and he rarely spent a night alone in the hospital.
Survivors - Son, John Heiman; daughter, Jacque Kirk, their children, Josh Murr, Meredith Heiman Bowen, Zak Heiman, and Elizabeth Heiman; great grandchildren, Cheyenne Bowen, Gracie Bowen, Lucas Murr, Kylie Murr, and Maya Heiman.
To view livestream of this service follow the link: http://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/58124/hash:E6C6BD2A429A17BE
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