When Marcella Heinen was village clerk of Willowbrook from 1965 to 1975, she had an extra phone in her kitchen that served as the main line for the young municipality. The village’s copy machine was in a bedroom that had been recently vacated by her college-bound son.
And it was Mrs. Heinen who was the first to respond to a resident’s concern.
“People called day and night. The [copy machine] was in the house, and the police would run in and out all the time making copies,” recalled her son Tom, adding, “She loved it and lived it.”
Mrs. Heinen, 85, died Saturday, March 16, in Hinsdale Hospital of complications from a stroke.
She was born in Chicago. She graduated from the now-shuttered Alvernia High School on the city’s Northwest Side.
She became an executive secretary at Continental Can Co., where she met John Heinen, then a chemical engineer at the firm. They married in 1942 while he was on leave from the Navy.
After war, the couple lived briefly in Chicago before moving to Clarendon Hills. They lived there for 16 years, then moved to Willowbrook, where they lived for 29 years.
In 1965, the homemaker and mother of four was appointed Willowbrook’s village clerk to finish two years of an unexpired term. She ran for two additional four-year terms, winning both.
“She really was involved with everything in the village, and she liked to know everything that was going on,” Tom Heinen said. “It was a wonderful blend of skills and interests.”
In the new village, which had no administrator or paid positions, Mrs. Heinen often was active in all levels of village government.
“She was involved with all areas, from administrative to judicial to public works,” said Frank Zimmerman, a former village trustee who served when Mrs. Heinen was clerk.
Her love for the village and its residents were foremost in her actions, Zimmerman said.
“She was an exceptional person. She worked very hard for the good of the village, which meant it was for the good of the people of the village. And we all did this with no pay in those years,” Zimmerman said.
Mrs. Heinen retired as clerk in 1975.
Mrs. Heinen and her husband moved to Downers Grove in 1993, spending winters in Florida.
Other survivors include her husband; another son, John; a daughter, Jeanne; a sister, Dolores Sweeney; a brother, Rev. Thomas Curley; and three grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 301 75th St., Downers Grove.
Prayers will begin at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the funeral home followed by a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady of Peace Church, 701 Plainfield Rd., Darien.
