JAMES EASTER HEATHMAN

JAMES EASTER HEATHMAN Bazaar Dateline Easter Heathman, 90, died Tuesday, January 29, 2008, at Newman Regional Health in Emporia, KS. A celebration of life memorial service will be held Saturday, February 2, 2008, at 2:00 P.M., at the Bazaar (Schoolhouse) Community Building in Bazaar, KS. with Pastor Rick Smith officiating. A Fort Riley honor guard will conduct a military service. Cremation has taken place. A private inurnment in Bazaar Cemetery will be held at a later date. The son of Herman LeRoy and Hattie McCracken Heathman, James Easter was born April 7, 1917, in Bazaar, KS. He married Elaine Selves in 1938. They, later, divorced. He married Betty Looney Brittain and she died in 2001. He grew up on a farm and was a farmer all his life. He recalled his family’s love for music and the Heathmans hosted platform dances for friends and neighbors from Bazaar and Matfield Green near their modest home and his dad’s gas station. He, also, enjoyed "gardening", raising tomatoes and growing fruit trees. He was a member of Zeredatha Masonic Lodge in Cottonwood Falls. He worked at Boeing Aircraft during the early years of WWII installing engines in B-29 bombers. In 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Philippines and Korea. He, two of his brothers, and his dad were among the first people on the scene of the crash which killed Knute Rockne and seven other Notre Dame athletic staff members. He has been an active force in preserving artifacts, sharing stories of the day of the crash, giving tours of the site, and erecting a memorial in honor of Rockne and staff. A Rockne Memorial Museum is being established in downtown Cottonwood Falls so the memories will be passed to future generations. He is survived by two sons: James Gordon Heathman and Thomas Robert Heathman, both of rural Cottonwood Falls, KS.; a daughter, Sue Ann Brown of Emporia, KS.; five grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents and five brothers: Vaden Heathman, Edward Heathman, Junior Heathman, Don Heathman, and Dean Heathman. There will be no family visitation prior to the service. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.brown-bennett-alexander.com. Memorial contributions to the Bazaar Community Building Fund or to the Rockne Museum Fund may be sent in care of Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home, 201 Cherry, Cottonwood Falls, KS. 66845, who is in charge of the arrangements.

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