Delores Heim

Long-time Anchorage resident Delores “Dee” Heim, 88, died Dec. 9 of pneumonia at Mat-Su Regional Hospital in Palmer.

Dee was born on Oct. 21, 1921 in Norwalk, Ohio, the sixth child of Alger and Iva Fry. She grew up on a farm, graduated from Monroeville High School in 1939 and attended Capital University in Ohio. She joined the Navy in 1943 as a WAVE, serving as a LINK Trainer Instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas and Honolulu. In 1947 she moved to Topeka, Kansas, where she met and married Thomas Heim. While in Kansas, she worked for the Army as a LINK Instructor and as a comptometer operator for the Santa Fe Railroad. She earned a bachelors degree at Washburn University in Kansas and a masters degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She was an elementary school teacher in Holton, Kansas from 1957 to 1961. In 1961 she moved to Alaska with her daughter, teaching in several elementary schools in the Anchorage School District and retired in 1978.

She was an active member of Holy Family Catholic Church, Prospector’s Society and CARTA. She volunteered at the Bishop’s Attic, Anchorage Convention & Visitor’s Bureau and the Anchorage Museum. Her hobbies included gardening, golfing, needlework, traveling and cross country skiing.

She is survived by her grandson Thomas McCain and granddaughter Jennifer Luce (Kevin) of Wasilla; nieces and nephews in Ohio; and friends in many states.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Thomas in 1955 and her daughter, Diane in November 2009.

A visitation will be at the Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel on 440 East Klatt Road in Anchorage on Monday at 5 p.m., with a prayer service following at 6 p.m. A funeral and graveside service will be held at a later date in St. Marys, Kansas.

Memorial contributions can be made to Catholic Social Services, 225 Cordova Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

Arrangements were made by Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel in Wasilla.