Alice Florence Heinen, age 96, formerly of Halbur, Iowa, died in the midst of her family on November 17, 2021, at her daughter’s home in Omaha, Nebraska.
Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2021, at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Halbur, Iowa. Celebrant will be Reverend James de Anda. Pallbearers will be Alice’s grandsons and gift bearers will be Alice’s granddaughters. Altar servers will be great-grandsons Joseph and Benjamin Casey. Lectors will be grandsons Jeffry Sander and John Aumen. Prayers of the Faithful will be read by granddaughter Christa Guetterman. Music provided by Organist Michael Emmerich and Alice’s grandchildren: vocalists Mary Aumen, Anne Aumen, Laura and Dominic Dougherty. Testimonials will be given by granddaughter and caregiver, Anna Dawson, and grandson, Matthew Aumen. The Carroll Catholic Daughters of the Americas will form an honor guard for the funeral mass. Burial will be in the parish cemetery.
Friends may call at the Sharp Funeral Home in Carroll, Iowa, after 5:00 p.m. on Friday, where the Holy Rosary will be prayed at 7 p.m. Additional visitation will be held from 10-10:45 a.m. on Saturday at the church. Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Sharp Funeral Home in Carroll and online condolences may be left for Alice’s family at www.sharpfuneral.com.
Memorials may be left at the funeral home or at the church to be directed to the Saint Joseph Education Society which supports seminarians in the Diocese of Sioux City or to American Life League. The family requests that Masses be offered in memory of Alice.
Mrs. Heinen was born on May 7, 1925, in Granville, Iowa, the daughter of Joseph F. and Eleanora (Bunkers) Bachmann. After attending St. Joseph Grade School in Granville, and high school at St. Mary’s Academy in Alton, she taught two years of country school in Sioux and O’Brien Counties in Iowa. She went on to receive laboratory technician training in Minneapolis, Minnesota, proceeding to work as a laboratory technician at Mercy Hospital in Marshalltown, Iowa, and then at St. Anthony Hospital in Carroll, Iowa. Alice then met her husband, Warren Heinen, of Halbur, Iowa. They farmed a mile west of Halbur for over forty years. Starting in 2011, she and Warren, her husband of sixty-three years, resided part-time with their daughter, Janice Sander, in Carroll, and part-time at their daughter Lois Aumen’s home in Omaha, Nebraska. Their third daughter, Corinne Heinen, MD, of Seattle, Washington, visited frequently and assisted with their medical care. Alice’s husband, Warren, entered into Eternal Life on July 7, 2017.
Her marriage to Warren L. Heinen took place September 29, 1953, at Sacred Heart Church in Pocahontas, Iowa, officiated by their friend Reverend Jerome Koenig. They made their home near Halbur for six decades prior to residing with their daughters. Alice was a member of St. Augustine Parish, its choir, Ladies Guild, and the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. She served on the Carroll County Health Board and volunteered at St. Augustine School. She enjoyed books, genealogy, and classical music. She also appreciated traveling throughout the United States, to countries in Europe, and especially to her father’s homeland of Austria.
Alice is survived by her sister Emily Flaherty of Los Angeles, California; her sister-in-law Marilyn Bachmann of Omaha, Nebraska; her three daughters and their spouses; ten grandchildren; eighteen great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Warren; her parents; five brothers, Robert, Raphael, Joseph, Francis, and James; two sisters, Helen and Clarice, and a daughter, Geralyn Mary, who died at birth.
Thoughts of Alice elicit memories of her gentleness of heart, her gracious demeanor, and her exemplary virtue. She will be warmly remembered for her genuine interest in people, her dedication to life-long learning, her work for the protection of unborn children, and her deep devotion to the Catholic faith. Alice, loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
