Annabelle Heiferman

Annabelle Heiferman Beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and a preacher's daughter from rural Georgia who eventually became Mayor of Beverly Hills, passed away peacefully on December 3rd, 2011, at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. She was 89 years old. She was born Annie Belle Cruse, the youngest of seven children, in Luthersville, Coweta County, Georgia on October 5th, 1922. The town population at the time: 300. Her father Rev. Walter Seaborn Cruse was an automobile salesman for Hudson cars in Atlanta but later felt the call to the ministry and was ordained a Methodist Circuit Preacher, serving churches throughout the state. Her mother May Bell Sprayberry was a homemaker, whose maiden name should be instantly recognizable to any fan of barbecue since it was Annabelle's uncle Huston who started Sprayberry's Barbecue Restaurant in Newnan, Georgia in 1926. The restaurant is still there, still thriving, and at one point was hailed "merely the best barbecue joint on earth" by the late columnist Lewis Grizzard. It even employed country music star Alan Jackson as a waiter. Annabelle, along with her four sisters and two brothers, grew up in Luthersville and later College Park. She graduated from Richardson High School, where she made her mark as the captain of the women's varsity basketball team, and in 1940, she married her first husband Milton Chester "Buster" Jones. It was the early years of World War II, and Buster worked for the Air Service Command at Warner Robins Air Base. He soon enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a machine gunner and was sent to the Pacific Campaign to fight in Saipan and Okinawa, eventually participating in the occupation of Japan at Nagasaki. After coming home and a brief return to active duty during the Korean War, Buster parlayed his experience in electroplating into his own business, Dixie Industrial Finishing Company, in 1959. That business is still thriving to this day, guided by Annabelle and Buster's son Jim Jones as Vice President, and in 2005, over 50 years after its founding, was recognized as "Manufacturer of the Year" in the state of Georgia. During her marriage to Buster, Annabelle was first a homemaker, devoted to raising their two children, Jim and Dana Jean Jones (now Dana Tomarken). When Buster returned from active service and, as was the case with many returning veterans, had a difficult time finding work, Annabelle entered the business world, starting as a salesperson in Davison's department store (later to become Macy's), rapidly working her way up to buyer and merchandise executive. In 1955, Annabelle and Buster divorced. And, in 1956, while she was in New York for Fashion Week, she met Joseph Heiferman, a traveling salesman in the costume jewelry business. They started dating. A year later at a friend's wedding, Joe turned to Annabelle and said, "Let's just get married now," and they did, in Las Vegas, at the famous "Little White Chapel." Soon after their wedding, Joe, who later became a Vice President of Monet Jewelry, brought Annabelle and her daughter Dana all the way to Beverly Hills, California, and the family grew to include daughter Tobi (now Tobi Blatt), son David, and daughter Carolyn from Joe's previous marriage. The moment Annabelle arrived in her new community, a very long way from Luthersville, Georgia, she devoted herself to it. Her first efforts were in the area of education. She joined the local PTA, the PTA Council board, and she started the Safe Route Home from School Program. Then, when schools began suffering from slashed budgets due to Proposition 13, she joined the Beverly Hills Education Foundation, becoming Trustee and Endowment Co-Chairperson, making sure enough funds were raised to keep local education at the highest level possible. Soon, her work extended to nearly every corner of the community: she became a founding board member of Beverly Hills Meals on Wheels, providing home-delivered meals to those in need, a Membership Chairperson of the League of Women Voters, a board member of the Beverly Hills Chapter of the American Cancer Society, board member of the Westsid91010