James Easter Heathman, Bazaar
1917 - 2008
James Easter Heathman of Bazaar died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008, at Newman Regional Health. He was 90.
Mr. Heathman was 14 years old when he witnessed the plane crash that killed legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. Mr. Heathman devoted himself to Rockne’s memory and was well-known for giving tours at no charge of the crash site, which is on private property in Chase County.
The memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bazaar Community Building (the former Bazaar schoolhouse).
The Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home has the arrangements. A full obituary will be published in Thursday’s Gazette.
BAZAAR
The memorial service to celebrate the life of James Easter Heathman of Bazaar will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bazaar (schoolhouse) Community Building in Bazaar. The Rev. Rick Smith will conduct the service. A Fort Riley honor guard will conduct a military service. Mr. Heathman was cremated. The private inurnment will be held at a later date in Bazaar Cemetery.
Memorial contributions to the Bazaar Community Building Fund or the Rockne Memorial Museum in Cottonwood Falls may be sent in care of the Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home, 201 Cherry, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845.
Mr. Heathman died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008, at Newman Regional Health. He was 90.
Messages to the family may be left at www.brown-bennett-alexander.com.
Mr. Heathman was a longtime farmer in Chase County and also a water-well witcher. During World War II, he worked at Boeing Aircraft and installed engines in B-29 bombers. In 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, served in the Philippines and Korea and earned four medals. Earlier, he was a member of the Kansas National Guard.
Mr. Heathman, then 14 years old, two of his brothers, and his father were among the first people on the scene of the airplane crash that killed Knute Rockne and seven other Notre Dame staff members. Mr. Heathman worked to preserve artifacts, shared stories of the day of the crash, gave countless tours of the site near his home and erected a memorial in honor of Rockne and his staff. In 1991, Heathman and two friends, Doug Stedrey and Pat Donelson, organized the 60-year Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of the plane crash. Heathman also kept a log of the hundreds of people who visited the site.
On March 31, 2007, his daughter, Sue Ann Brown, along with Ken Kline from the Wichita Rockne Club and Notre Dame alumni Pat Reis and Pat Smith, organized the 75th Anniversary Rockne Memorial. Heathman was presented a plaque from the Notre Dame athletic department in appreciation of his dedication to preserving the memory of Knute Rockne.
Mr. Heathman was a member of the Chase County Museum Board and helped raise funds to build the Rockne Memorial Museum in Cottonwood Falls. He was a member of Zeredatha Masonic Lodge in Cottonwood Falls.
The son of Herman LeRoy and Hattie McCracken Heathman, he was born April 7, 1917, at Bazaar. He married Elaine Selves in 1938. They were divorced. He married Betty Looney Brittain and she died in 2001. The Heathman family were hosts for platform dances for friends and neighbors.
He is survived by one daughter, Sue Ann Brown of Emporia; two sons, James Gordon Heathman and Thomas Robert Heathman, both of rural Cottonwood Falls; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Five brothers, Vaden Heathman, Edward Heathman, Junior Heathman, Don Heathman and Dean Heathman, died earlier.