Irmgard "Irma" Heidner

IRMGARD “IRMA” HEIDNER

January 13, 1931 – March 13, 2025

Irmgard (Schultes) Heidner, age 94, passed away peacefully in her sleep at home in Evans Mills, New York on March 13, 2025. 

Irma was born on January 13, 1931 in Alacap, Romania to Edward and Pauline (Reule) Schultes, the second of their seven children. In 1949 at age 18 she came to the United States to live with and work for her father’s cousin, Jacob J. Schultes, Jr. and his wife Paulina in Wolf Point, Montana. During a layover at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minnesota enroute to Wolf Point Irma was interviewed by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Her photograph and a short caption were published in the Saturday, December 17th edition of the newspaper.

Her life with Jacob and Paulina involved the many aspects of life in the country. She did field work as well as gardening and household duties. During her time with them she attended Lustre Bible Academy for one semester where she took English and Bible classes. She also improved her use of English by watching television programs. 

In June of 1953 Irma married Dale Heidner in Wolf Point. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Nebraska where their two sons and first daughter were born. In September 1955 she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Irma and Dale relocated to Glendive, Montana in 1962 where their second daughter was born. In 1970 another move brought them to Belgrade, Montana. They reached their final home in Evans Mills, New York near their youngest daughter Tami in 2018 when health issues required them to have more help with daily living tasks.

Irma committed her life to serving God, her family and other people. She had a variety of jobs that included working in the potato fields, making candy, and constructing eyeglass Croakies. She was active in her church as a Sunday School teacher and an AWANA leader. She loved working with children and was far more than a teacher to them; she took on the roles of listener, encourager and grandma to them.

She enjoyed her vegetable and flower gardens and happily shared her harvest with her family at summer reunions; favorites were fresh sweet corn and raspberries. Her raspberry jam was legendary. Her hobbies included sewing and making crafts of all kinds. She faithfully attended her children’s sports games, concerts and other activities. She was an avid reader and a willing learner. She accompanied her husband to many Ham Radio Field Days and helped host some of those events in her own yard. She good naturedly tolerated the forest of antennas that Dale installed on their property! Irma had an amazing sense of humor, could be quite a prankster and sent some hilarious greeting cards to family members on occasion.

Irma and Dale traveled extensively making a special effort to visit all of their children and grandchildren who were scattered across the United States. Irma collected spoons as souvenirs from the places that they went. They were able to make several trips to Germany where Irma was able to reconnect with her birth family. She was grateful when many of them came to visit her in the United States.

Irma loved to be engaged with her grandchildren. When asked what they remember about their grandma, they shared that some things were common to all—learning how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch and making fudge and caramels. Others remember being taught basic cooking skills, picking peppermint from her garden to make tea, eating Krautkabushka, Kuechle with chocolate, powdered or cinnamon sugar and having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Irma took them for walks in the woods and along the river teaching them to look for signs of animals along the way. She enjoyed playing games of Rummikub even when the grandchild who was her partner read off the numbers of her tiles out loud! She helped hold her granddaughter’s chickens at the livestock show. In addition to all of the fun things, Grandma Irma is remembered for sitting in her recliner reading her Bible at the end of a busy day.

In recent years, when her failing health prevented her from being actively involved in life, two things that still made her smile with joy were visits from her great grandchildren and listening to hymns.

Irma is survived by her husband Dale; children Vern (Gloria), Dennis (Amy), Debbie (Fred Canales) and Tami (Mark Adams); grandchildren Cathy, David (Julie), Elizabeth (Forrest), Chris (Bryan), Elsbeth (James), Brianna (Mike), Sarah (David) and Aurora (Jeriah); great grandchildren Harrison, Jedidiah, Anderson, Christopher, Ellie, Amelia, Huxley, Zeke and Benjamin; one foster great granddaughter; sisters Frieda Wuensch, Maria “Marichen” (Manfred) Kaess, and Lieselotte “Lotte” (Horst) Koch and many other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother Daniel; brother and sister-in-law Edmund (Waltraud); sister and brother-in-law Marta (Bernhard) Schoeck; brother-in-law Ludwig Wuensch and granddaughters Gracie and Keren.

Memorials for Irma may be given to Gouveneur Area Awana Club c/o Fowler Baptist Church, 8 Balmat-Fowler Road, Gouveneur NY 13642.