Marion Gene Heator, 89, of Union City passed away Sunday, July 28, 2024 at Maple Lawn Medical Care Facility in Coldwater.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, August 2, 2024, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 8220 M-60, Union City, MI, 49094, with the Rev. Fr. Dan Hyman as celebrant. Interment will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Union City.
Visitation will take place from 4:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, August 1, 2024, at Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation, 1276 Tate Trail, Union City, MI, 49094 with a Rosary Service starting at 7:30 p.m.
The family is being served by Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation in Union City.
Marion was born in Chicago November 9, 1934 to James “Bud” and Algena (Hanley) Touhey. For her first 11 years she was a true big-city girl, riding the streetcar with friends to go to the movies and walking to a neighborhood store with a shopping list and money from Grandma Rose Touhey in her pocket. After completing sixth grade she moved to Union City, where she quickly made friends.
In high school she met her future husband, John Heator. They graduated high school together in 1952 and were married in 1956. They had three children, Ed, Marty and Julie, and together they built a life centered on family and community.
Marion documented her Windy City childhood and her life in Union City through her “Marion’s Musings” column, which ran in the Clarion newspaper between May 2008 and January 2010. In Chicago she attended St. Mel’s church and school, recalling that the school entrance had a big staircase that led past the Mother Superior’s office. On days when Marion was late, she passed that office holding her breath.
James and Algena had two children, Jim and Marion, before their marriage ended in divorce. Algena would remarry, to Thomas Harty, and together they had a son, Tom. In October 1945, Thomas, Algena, Jim, Marion and Tom moved to Union City; Marion was 11. Thomas had been offered a job at the Duo Coach factory located on South Broadway near the railroad tracks.
In her May 8, 2008 “Musings” column, Marion wrote “I can still remember the Greyhound bus turning onto Calhoun Street, making its way to Main Street, known today as North Broadway.” She said that it did not take long for her to feel welcomed as her classmates in her new school treated her with kindness. From that point on she would grow to cherish the friendships that nurtured in her hometown.
Her family experienced tragedy when Thomas Harty passed away from a heart attack when young Tom was three years old and Jim and Marion were teenagers. Marion wrote of this loss in her May 22, 2008 column, describing him as “…the kindest and most gentle man I have ever known, and he was missed more than I can put into words.” Algena, Jim, and Marion each had to do their part to support the family. This included Marion doing odd jobs to make ends meet, including babysitting and weeding onions in a muddy field.
Algena would later remarry, and she and her husband, Gordon “Gordy” Jones, lived on the Jones’ family farm outside of Sherwood. The Heator children enjoyed exploring the farm’s outbuildings and fields and the farmhouse, where Gordy would sit at the dining room table listening to his beloved Detroit Tigers on the radio. When the Tigers didn’t play well, Gordy complained that a team from Mudsock could beat the Detroiters. Mudsock is a place name associated with his boyhood one-room schoolhouse near Sherwood.
Marion enjoyed telling family and friends about the fun she had growing up in Union City. Her memories included going to Fabiano’s Ice Cream Parlor – known as “Fabs” – to get a soda; watching movies at the Strand Theater (now Miller’s Pharmacy); shopping at Dancer’s Department Store; swimming at Oliverda Lake; and road trips to Cherry Hill Restaurant on M-60 and to Pokagon State Park in Indiana.
In school she enjoyed playing sports, cheerleading, working on the school paper, and going to dances. She took pride in the fact that in her sophomore year of 1950 the girl’s basketball team, the Maroons, won the Little C Conference championship, while her daughter Julie repeated the feat in her sophomore year of 1981, as the Chargers won the Big 8 Conference title.
She and her future husband, John, met in school. They were one of six couples from the class of 1952 who married, and Marion treasured the lifelong friendships with these couples and other classmates that grew from her school days.
Marion’s Catholic faith played a central role in her life. She recalled attending mass every day at St. Mel’s in Chicago. In Union City, she worshiped at St. Charles in Coldwater, and later, at Our Lady of Fatima in Union City. Before the Union City church was built, she would walk from her house on West High Street to the Fabiano or Brown home, both on Hammond Street, to carpool with others for Sunday mass in Coldwater.
Marion was a founding parishioner at Our Lady of Fatima, which opened in 1952. She and John were married there four years later. Marion was active in all aspects of Our Lady of Fatima, and this included singing in the choir. That led to an opportunity of lifetime – to travel to Rome and sing for the Pope.
One of Marion’s earliest jobs was at the Coldwater Cooperative Feed and Coal Co. on Railroad Street. She learned how to weigh coal, and would “run through the mill, telling grain fellows about orders they had to fill” (May 15, 2008 “Musings”). She then got a job at Union City National Bank, where she worked for many years as she and John started and raised a family.
Marion also worked as a cashier at Harding’s Friendly Market. She recalled the time John was handling trick-or-treating duties while she worked. He was being extra generous with the candy and placed an urgent call to Hardings for a resupply. After retiring from Harding’s, she began working for the Register-Tribune newspaper. She spent a decade at the “Trib,” selling advertising and reporting on local news, before retiring. She came out of retirement again to help launch the Clarion in 2008, before retiring, again, in 2010.
In many ways, Marion’s work with these newspapers was a continuation of a life of community involvement that began in the 1950s, when she got involved with the Betterment Association, the forerunner of today’s Chamber of Commerce. She gave her time to the Green Thumb Garden Club, the Society for Historic Preservation, the Union City High School Alumni Association, numerous parade planning committees, and the fundraising effort for the Lucille Dearth library building. Marion served as Village Clerk from 1965 to 1973 and was named Citizen of the Year for 1982-83.
Marion’s passion for her community and friends was surpassed only by her dedication to her family. The Heator children have fond memories of spending hours outside playing with neighborhood friends with the understanding that when Mom called them in for dinner, it was time to go. Marion knew the value of having the family sit down together for a meal, and she made sure it happened, even as the kids got older and busier with school and sports and she and John both worked while raising a family.
Marion juggled her work schedule to attend as many of her kids’ school events as possible, including band concerts, talent shows, school fundraisers, and sporting events. As a sports super fan, she endured wins and losses, bad weather, and stuffy gymnasiums. This enthusiasm continued as she followed the athletic exploits of her nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
Marion orchestrated countless family visits and gatherings involving grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. These included her brother Tom Harty and his wife Judy and their children Tom and Sherri in Union City; aunts, uncles and cousins from the Touhey and Hanley sides of her family living in the Chicago area; and her family in Washington State – her brother Jim Touhey, Jim’s wife, Lois, and their children Tim and Joe.
There were drives to Coldwater to visit to John’s parents, Glenn and Emma Heator, and the many Heator aunts, uncles and cousins, as John had 10 siblings. There were visits from Marion’s father, James “Bud” Touhey, who lived in Chicago. Marion’s parents were divorced but maintained an amicable relationship; Grandpa Bud’s visits to Union City included Marion’s mother Algena and stepfather Gordon “Gordy” Jones, and members of the extended family.
A devoted Detroit Tigers fan, Marion kept a place in her heart for the Chicago Cubs because her father was a lifelong Chicagoan and Cubbies fan. She rooted enthusiastically for the Detroit Lions, Michigan State Spartans, her beloved Union City Chargers, and before that, the Union City Maroons, as they were known during her time in high school.
As much as she loved Union City, Marion took the opportunity to travel. There were countless visits to Chicago, home to her father and to numerous aunts, uncles and cousins from the Touhey (father James) and Hanley (mother Algena) sides of the family. One trip in particular stood out for Marion. She fondly remembered driving to the Windy City in her ’49 Ford, with her little brother Tommy riding along, so that she could take her Aunt Adeline (Touhey) Gallagher with her to shop for a wedding dress.
There were numerous trips to the cabin owned by Algena and Gordy near Baldwin, Michigan; a road trip to Disney World in Florida when the children were small, everyone piled into the station wagon; trips to the old Tiger stadium for baseball games; and one family trip to watch the Lions play at the Pontiac Silverdome. She flew to Miami to watch Julie and her Lake Michigan College volleyball teammates compete in the national championships, and she and Julie attended an anniversary celebration for the Statue of Liberty in New York City. She and John went on a European adventure that included Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy.
Through it all, Marion retained her love for Union City. In her October 29, 2009 “Musings” column, she reflected on the friendliness and of its people and waxed optimistic about the town’s future. She encouraged readers to tell people that “Union City is a place to be proud of.”
Marion was preceded in death by her parents, James Touhey and Algena (Hanley) Jones; her stepfather Thomas Harty; her stepfather Gordon Jones; and her brother James “Jim” Touhey.
Marion is survived by her husband, John; their children Ed (Cindy), Marty (Cheryl), and Julie (Stephanie Maj); granddaughters Shelby Heator, Mackenzie Heator (Alexander Bates), Megan Holtrey (Stefen), and Olivia Heator; her brother, Tom Harty; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial donations are suggested to the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church Building Fund, 8220 M-60, Union City, MI 49094, or to the Union City High School Alumni Association John and Marion Heator scholarship fund, Edward Jones Financial Advisors, 220 N. Broadway St., Union City.
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