David Heckman

David Heckman obituary, Orefield, PA

David Heckman

David Heckman Obituary

Obituary published on Legacy.com by Allentown Funeral & Cremations Services, LLC on Feb. 26, 2024.

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David Heckman
My Dad transitioned after a long brave fight with Glioblastoma and a shorter fight with metastatic Melanoma. I have been so lucky to have had the ability to be a major part of his care team over the past few years, giving us unpromised precious time together. My children have had an amazing experience of being there to care for our loved ones in need that I am sure they will never forget. I could not have done it without the support of my husband, Jeremy, who loved my dad like a father.
My dad started off in the world as the 3rd child of Lee and Marie Heckman, 8 brothers and sisters; Vivian "Dixie", Lee "Butch", Ronald, Larry, Donna, Donald, Julie, and Rodger, "The Knucklehead Club". My dad was notorious for tormenting his siblings, and the gang of them played endlessly in the Little Lehigh Parkway, as if it were their own backyard.
He had the brains to be any type of engineer he wanted to be; he dabbled in aerospace, physics, electrical and mechanical engineering. But his potential was stunted when his passion for justice and peace threatened the powers and influence of the United States Government. Much like other revolutionary and Anti Vietnam War organizations, my father and his group of revolutionaries of the Civil Defense Newspaper were targeted and set up. The Government claimed they were conspiring to blow up Bethlehem Steel. Even though he had dear friends that testified in his defense, the manufactured evidence won and my dad spent 2 years in Federal Prison. He was a hero to his fellow comrades. You can read about it here.
https://www.mcall.com/1990/03/29/the-plot-to-bomb-the-lehigh-valley-18-years-later-doubts-linger-over-case-and-informers-role/
My dad had several loves in his life and had been married 4 times. The first was Laurel, a fellow young revolutionary, and distant cousin that needed to be emancipated from her parents. While they had love for each other, their marriage was a way for Laurel to gain her independence. Their marriage ended during his incarceration. The summer before last she came to visit my dad when she learned he was sick and she thanked him for saving her life.
The second was to my mother, Cindy, they shared a deep love for each other that produced 2 children Eli and myself. Even though they were deeply in love, trauma from being incarcerated affected their marriage, along with his constant need to rearrange the entire house while she was at work, sometimes taking out walls and staircases, which ended in divorce. Thankfully they remained great friends and family and accepted each other's spouses.
Gail was his 3rd wife. She gave him the architecture to live a functional adult life. He also gained a step daughter Jenn and her wife Diana and their daughters Taylor and Tonia. He finally graduated college after 14 years of college with a Biomedical Engineering Degree. Gail's life was cut short, even after a kidney & pancreas transplant, to her type 1 Diabetes, my father was her caregiver for 10 years until her passing in 2012. He served as an excellent example of being a caregiver and I often reminded him when he would thank me for taking such good care of him, that he was the one who taught me how to do it.
Most loved was Annabelle his 4th wife and she has given him the gift of seeing the world. Never would he have been able to explore Japan and the Philippines without the enticement of her love. Their fresh marriage was bulldozed by his cancer. She has been a devoted wife and caregiver to my father. She has worked so hard to keep their household afloat after his unexpected retirement and loss of abilities. I am so thankful he has known her unconditional love. He was completely in love with her and hung on every word she would say to him. It was quite sweet.
He had a home away from home at work, at Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest. For 30 years he was a biomed engineer. He had a family in his department, and I say this affectionately, his nerdy engineer buddies. I can't name them all but he adored Jay, Victor, Ted, Tim, Dennis, and Al....and all the others that I apologize I can not recall their names. He also made many friends with some of the staff at the hospital that were refugees from Burma. They welcomed him into their community and festivals and he enjoyed their culture and friendship and food, especially their egg rolls.
He had a very spiritual side, even though he and my mother brought my brother and I up to be Atheists. He grew up in the Lutheran Church with his Grandfather and Great Uncle at the pulpit. In very much a Dave style, his sister has fond memories of him throwing small items into church ladies' hair from the above balcony during services.
He rebelled from Christianity as a youth and young adult but found comfort in Metaphysical practices and found lifelong friends in this mystical spirituality. As a child he taught me to read auras, hands on healing, read tarot cards and to do past life regressions. Those friends were channeling with him until his transition.
He rediscovered Christianity and joined Bethel Bible Church in Emmaus in the 1990s; he was active in visiting shut-ins and the sick. He took a lot of pride in the good deeds of the church and made many dear friends.
He always seemed to have a full or part time side gig. For several years he operated Dave's HandyMan Service. He even took my brother on small jobs to teach him basic skills. Later he had Guardian's service for computer repair. I am sure he made a few bucks doing it, but I personally thought it gave him the excuse to buy new cool tools. There aren't too many tools he didn't have. He would never say no to a trip to Home Depot.
His most important job to me was being, Dad. Being in a divorced family it was painful not to see both parents daily. My dad would sleep around the corner from our house in his van just to be close to us.
On weekends we often explored the woods and hiked up at the Knob, Bushkill falls, Jenny Jump
Rock, Ringing Rock, Hawk Mountain, anywhere we could get out in nature and explore new trails.
Summers we spend weeks and weekends at Locust Lake State Park, We'd swim in the lake, ride our bikes around the paths, fish, and walk to the camp store for candy sticks. He was a huge fan of burnt marshmallows and hotdogs.
4th of July at my Nana's was a big deal in our family, Dad was always invited even after the divorce. My dad made these GIANT big bang cannons made of duct taped coffee cans and a lot of bangsite. Pissed my Nana off every year, but everyone else loved his staple booms.
The day before he stopped being able to talk he reminded Eli and I to catch lightning bugs in a jar and smoosh some in your teeth like he did to make his teeth glow.and gross everyone out.
He loved nonsense poetry and had Eli and I memorize several of his favorites. We even recited them together during his last days. He laughed through the pain.
Birthdays were birthday weeks as kids and he would treat us to our favorite foods, places and presents. Even as an adult there were a few birthdays he would talk me out for a meal and shopping just the two of us.
Once he played hooky from work and we went and saw President Bill Clinton speak at Muhlenberg College together.
As I became a mother he would glow with the addition of each grandchild. He watched Rowan's birth from a view room as they performed an emergency cesarean on his daughter. We surprised him at work with the sudden exchange of custody of Seth which quickly led to his adoption. He was in the room with Jeremy and I when we found out Finnian was a boy during the 20 week ultrasound. He beamed in the courtroom in Berks County when we adopted Hayden and Tatum.
Now with 5 kids we have been to the ER more than once and he always ran to our aid as we would bring our crew in for stitches, concussions, infections, broken bones, etc.. He even sat with me while Jeremy had his vasectomy. It was so comforting to have him there at moments of concern or panic. I hope I gave him that same comfort during his time of need with the similar witty jokes to relieve the tension.
He wasn't the type to call and say, "Hey I miss you, can I come over and hang"... " He would call and say "Hey I noticed you needed some weatherstripping around your front door, I picked some up and I'll install it." Sometimes on a snowy or sunny summer day he would drive by just to see if we were outside playing in the snow or hand the sprinkler out and join in the fun.
Once he put a taxidermied raccoon from my Uncle Jon's collection of odd hunting supplies..into a tree in my backyard for the kids to find. What a story, Finn was about 5 years old and he spied what he called a "frozen raccoon" in the tree after a snow storm. Rowan picks this lifeless animal out of the tree. Finn starts pounding on its chest and giving it CPR yelling, "LIVE, LIVE, LIVE!" I am screaming for him to put it down and of course he brings this thing into the house and it's practically the size of him. I am terrified this critter is going to warm up, spring to life and get us all..I run up the steps with 2 of the other little kids....literally peeing my pants the entire way. Jeremy emerges from the office and takes Finn outside with the frozen raccoon and leaves it outside on the patio. Jeremy isn't nearly as alarmed as I am and casually says...."I think that thing is taxidermied." Light bulb moment for me there is only one person in the world that would put a taxidermied raccoon in my tree and that's my dad. I phoned him up and confronted him with this outlandish story and all he could do was laugh. We then welcomed this raccoon into our lives and it even ended up in our Christmas card that year. He is still in Finn's room and a well loved part of our family stories.
He loved his family through thick and thin, and making playing a trick on you was an affectionate gesture.
Now we can not properly eulogize dad without talking about Aliens. All jokes aside he absolutely believed he was abducted and got to fly an Alien spacecraft. He loved to joke about it and freak out the kids but he was always on the lookout for them to come back.
One night (to be clear this was before the brain cancer) he told me on a clear night he could look out at the sky and control alien ships with this mind. I was probably 35ish at the time and I was definitely feeling the vibe why some in my family called him "Crazy Dave".....and well I just smiled and nodded. A few days later he calls me and say's "I am doing it, I am controlling the ships, come see. I am at Alton Park." I yelled to the kids and Jeremy, " Everyone get in the car it doesn't matter what you are wearing, we are going to see Pappy control the spaceships." The face of my family and the quickness of their hustle to get in the car was hysterical. I received a call from my mother a few moments later, she wanted to swing by our house and I told her what we were doing. Well wouldn't you know it she wanted to see Dad control spaceships too, her and John met us over there a few minutes later. The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. He starts telling us there are a few of them and they are flying so straight that it's almost as if they are on a rail orbiting the Earth but he can stop and start them. It was a beautiful night for stargazing but to his disappointment and my husband's knowledge of the night sky he was able to identify this phenomenon as satellite dishes. I really felt bad for crushing his interstellar anomaly, but he took it well. He admitted with his scientific mind, Jeremy was likely right.
But he was always on the lookout for evidence of deviations of reality.
I am so lucky that I got to say and do all the things he and I needed to do together.and giggled our way through the pain. I am going to miss him for the rest of my life. I know he is one with the universe now and his energy will never fade.
You did good Dad, I am proud to be your daughter, and thankful for you to have you as our children's Pappy.

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Sign David Heckman's Guest Book

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March 3, 2024

Debby posted to the memorial.

February 27, 2024

Maryellen Piccerillo posted to the memorial.

February 27, 2024

Beverly Mohr posted to the memorial.

Debby

March 3, 2024

I knew your father in our youth around the time ofCivil Defence.he was married to Laura then, we all got into a van to picket the White House against the Viet Nam War.it was cherry blossom time.He also was friends with my late husband Joe Csrenko.your father back then was very nice and kind.Rest in Peace David.

Maryellen Piccerillo

February 27, 2024

I don't know this man and I'm very sorry for your loss but this is the most amazing obituary I've every read. What an incredible tribute to what was obviously an incredible man. I laughed and cried while reading it. May his memory live on forever.

Beverly Mohr

February 27, 2024

To all Davids loved ones, what beautiful story of his legacy. My condolences to all the family, friends, coworkers, lives he has touched. God Bless.
Your cousin Beverly (Ziegler) Mohr

NAZARETH

February 26, 2024

GONE FROM THIS LIFE, BUT THE MEMORIES LAST FOREVER

Mr. Spock

February 26, 2024

I first met David in 1966. He loved the tv show.
Be Light and prosper on your new journey.
Spock

Naomi Winch

February 26, 2024

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March 3, 2024

Debby posted to the memorial.

February 27, 2024

Maryellen Piccerillo posted to the memorial.

February 27, 2024

Beverly Mohr posted to the memorial.