Catherine V. Heintzelman, 81, of Wauconda, a former longtime resident of Des Plaines, died Saturday, Feb. 3, in Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago. Born in Scotland, Mrs. Heintzelman was 5 when she moved to the U.S. with her family. The family lived for 10 years in Witt, Ill., and moved to Chicago in 1934. She was a cook at age 16 in the nurses’ quarters at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago. During World War II, she worked in the office for Railway Express, a transportation company in Chicago. She married in 1940, and following the war, she became a homemaker and raised her family in Des Plaines. For the last five years, Mrs. Heintzelman lived with her children. “She liked to be around us, and we felt the same way about her,” said her son William. “She was a joy.” Other survivors include another son, Raymond; two daughters, Roseann Hachmeister and Kathleen Halverson; a brother, Thomas Finnigan; a sister, Betty Kirby; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. A visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Oehler Funeral Home, 555 Lee St., Des Plaines. Prayers will be said at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in the funeral home, followed by a 10 a.m. mass to be said in Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church, 8300 N. Greenwood Ave., Niles.
