Matthew Carl Heun Sr., 81, died Aug. 16, 2008 at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at noon Tuesday, Aug. 19, at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, 432 E. Fireweed in Palmer. Mass will be preceded by the rosary at 11:15 a.m. Interment will follow Mass at the Palmer Pioneer Cemetery.

Heun was born June 26, 1972 in Jersey City, N.J. He left high school in the 10th grade and enrolled in the Casey Jones Aircraft and Power Plant School in Newark prior to joining the Army Air Corps as a flight engineer on B-25 and B-17 bombers.

 Upon his separation from the Army in 1946, Heun joined the Sheet Metal Workers Union and was a member of Local 27 for 45 years. In 1952 he married Eileen Quinn, and together they shared 56 years of marriage and raised five children.

 Survivors include his wife, Eileen, of Palmer; sons Robert, Matthew Jr., Craig and Paul, and their spouses; daughter Eileen and her husband; and nine grandchildren.

 In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Palmer Alzheimer Resource Center, P.O. Box 4406, Palmer, AK, 99645 or the Vietnam Veterans of America, P.O. Box 870318, Wasilla, AK, 99687.

 Valley Funeral Homes of Palmer & Wasilla is assisting the family.