James Heiple

1933 - 2021

James Heiple
PEORIA HEIGHTS – James D. Heiple, 87, of Peoria Heights, formerly of Washington, passed away unexpectedly at 11:39 am Monday, January 18, 2021 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria from complications following a brain hemorrhage.
He was born to Harriet Birkett Heiple and Rae Crane Heiple in Peoria, Illinois on September 13, 1933. He grew up in Washington, Illinois, where his family had settled in the 1850s. He married Virginia Kerswill at First Federated Church in Peoria on July 28, 1956. They had three children: Jeremy, Jonathan, and Rachel. Virginia died April 16, 1995, and Rachel died July 3, 2014.
James is survived by son Jeremy (and wife Carla) of Pekin, and son Jonathan of Peoria. He is also survived by Jeremy's five children, Derek, Darby, Tate, Tanner, and Drae; and a great-grandson, Cooper; as well as James' brother, Rae II of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.
James graduated from Bradley University and then obtained his law degree from the University of Louisville. He was admitted to practice law in Illinois and Kentucky and also before the U.S. Supreme Court. Following service in the Army at Fort Knox, James settled in Pekin, where he practiced law from 1958 to 1970, when he was elected a circuit judge. He served as a circuit judge until 1980, when he was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court. In 1990 he was elected a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and served as Chief Justice in 1997. He was a graduate and faculty adviser at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, in the 1970s, and he was a past president of the Illinois Judges Association. He also obtained a Masters in Law degree for appellate judges from the University of Virginia in 1988.
Following his retirement in 2001, he remained very active and enjoyed traveling, reading, working at his farm, and visiting his summer cabin in Canada. James was a Christian, having been raised in the Methodist Church, and he was active in numerous community and civic organizations during his career. In 1970 he was named by Governor Louie Nunn as an Honorable Kentucky Colonel.
Private services will be held at Deiters Funeral Home and Crematory in Washington, with burial following in the family plot at Glendale Cemetery in Washington.
James' memorial website is available at www.deitersfuneralhome.com where condolences may also be sent to the family.