Sandy Heffelfinger passed away on Wednesday, September 15, 2010, after a courageous 3-year battle with melanoma. She passed away at home with her family, as she wished. She will be deeply missed as a wife, mother, friend to many, and as a wonderful teacher who touched the lives of numerous students over her career of thirty years. <\/p>\n
She was born in Butte, MT, on January 2nd, 1940. She attended St. Mary\u2019s Elementary School and graduated from Girls\u2019 Central High School in 1957. Afterward, she attended Montana Tech, (then the Montana School of Mines), for two years before transferring to the University of Montana where she graduated with a BA degree in Education. <\/p>\n
After teaching for a time in Colorado and Michigan, she returned to Montana. After several years of teaching at Arlee, she moved to California. She married Howard Heffelfinger in Oceanside, CA, on September 27, 1969. They lived in southern California for the next two years, where she taught in Oceanside and her husband attended San Diego State University. However, the moment he received his graduate degree she insisted on returning to Montana. Sandy\u2019s roots in Montana were deep, and she was never happy when she was away very long. Not long after their return, they adopted their two sons, Kerry and Ryan, who were the lights of their parents\u2019 lives from that time forward. <\/p>\n
Sandy\u2019s primary emphasis was on Special Education. She had a remarkable ability to deal with children with special emotional and academic needs. Her patience, skill, and loving care won over such students, regardless of whatever other negative forces or influences were impacting their lives. <\/p>\n
Eventually she transferred into the regular classroom where she continued to use innovative and creative techniques to the considerable benefit of her students. She believed in individualized instruction, allowing each student to work at his or her own pace. <\/p>\n
As examples of her unique teaching techniques, when she taught at Jefferson Elementary School the presence of the capitol building, one block away, was an ideal instructional lab for her. She heard a song about Montana that she loved, \u201cMontana Melody\u201d by LeGrande Harvey, and decided to lobby the legislature for its passage as the Montana State Ballad. Her students testified at committee hearings, lobbied legislators, and attended second and third reading votes by both chambers. Against all odds, the bill passed. By the time her students participated in the bill signing ceremony with the Governor, her pupils knew more about the legislative process than most adults in the State. <\/p>\n
In 1989, during the celebration of Montana\u2019s Centennial, Sandy wanted Jefferson School to participate by sending a plywood female figure across the country, called \u201cCentennial Sal.\u201d After obtaining an agreement from Representative Pat Williams, a note attached to Sal requested anyone encountering her to please convey her somewhere in the direction of Washington, D.C., and eventually to Representative Williams\u2019 office. As she moved across the country from truck stop, to rest stop, to restaurant, to mall parking lot, etc., people along the way sent fill-in letters <\/p>\n
stating where they had found and ultimately left her. Many included interesting comments about the immediate area, the people transporting her, and Sal\u2019s journey. She was carried by tourists, atruck drivers, salesmen, locals transporting her just for a few miles, and any manner of other travelers. In receiving the letters, the students learned first hand of the kindness, generosity, and goodwill of the American people. Sal eventually did arrive at Representative Williams\u2019 office, and he brought her back to Helena. When he wheeled her out on the stage of the Jefferson School auditorium, the student body erupted with a deafening cheer. Hopefully they will remember that experience forever. <\/p>\n
As much as Sandy enjoyed kids and teaching, she finally did retire in 1995. Both before and after retirement, she was a voracious reader, finishing off a book every several days. She also acquired numerous articles off of the Internet from newspapers and periodicals across the country. She was very knowledgeable about current events and numerous other topics. Sandy also loved gardening, writing, taking rides around Helena, her animals, and spending time with her family. <\/p>\n
She is survived by her husband, Howard, two sons, Kerry and Ryan, and her sister Christina McGonigle, of Salt Lake City, and numerous cousins including Ed Moriarity, (Katie) of Bozeman, MT, Mary Kay Downey, (Jerry) of Coronado, CA, William Moriarity, (Penny), Cheyenne, WY, Dan Moriarity, Thermopolis, WY, Michael McGonigle, (Jean), Astoria, OR, Jim McGonigle, (Louise), Bremerton, WA, and Stephanie Eikanas (Brian), Becker MN. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dan and Lucielle McGonigle, of Butte, and several aunts and uncles including her favorite aunt and godmother, Hellie Moriarity. <\/p>\n
A memorial service celebrating Sandy\u2019s life will be held on Monday, September 20, 2010, at 10 a.m. at the Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 650 Logan Street, Helena. Lunch will be served following the service. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, that donations be sent to Hospice of St. Peter\u2019s, 2475 Broadway, Helena MT 59601. <\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/250428_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}