Mrs. Heinbecker

My old grade 2 teacher – Mrs. Heinbecker – passed away. 

It has been many years since I have seen her, but she had a profound impact on me as a child that I still don’t understand to this day. I can picture her classroom at the top of the stairs. I can see her genuine smile, but my memories of my time in her class are limited to these two visions.

When it came time for the last day of school that year, I locked my arms into our Queen Victoria Drive townhouse fence, and wouldn’t let go. There was no way I was going to school that day. 

My mother tried to pry me from that fence, to no avail. I was sobbing uncontrollably and my mother could not figure out why of all the days – the day before summer break –  I suddenly refused to go to school.

Finally, after around twenty minutes or so, I spilled the beans. I didn’t want to leave Mrs. Heinbecker’s class. 

“She lives across the street from the Thomas’s,” my mother pleaded. The Thomas’s were long-time friends and the Heibecker’s house – to my surprise – was literally a 1 minute walk across the small town road.

With that, I unlocked my arms and made my way to school that day.

I am not sure how often I went to visit Mrs. Heinbecker, but I picture sitting in her and her husband Victor’s home.

That was over 40 years ago. Although the specific details of the ways in which she captured my heart are vague, it’s obvious she had a way with sensitive, hyper little kids with me.

Shirley began teaching at 18 in a one-room schoolhouse. She was married to Victor for 70 years. Amazing!

Thank you, Mrs. Heinbecker. May you rest in peace.