Arnold Alvin Heyl Sr.

Arnold Alvin Heyl, Sr., passed away Saturday, September 6, 2003 at Hickory Creek Nursing Home, The Plains.

Mr. Heyl was born in Detroit, MI, on September 7, 1918, the son of the late Carl Frederick Heyl, a minister in the German Evangelical Reformed Church and the late Frieda Amanda Ketter Heyl. His family lived in New Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, OH. He graduated from James Ford Rhodes High School in Cleveland, OH. He enrolled in Mission House College in Sheboygen, WI, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from that institution in 1940.

While in college he was a member of Zeta Chi fraternity, the Troubadours, male chorus, and a member of the staff of the Mission House Mirror for three years before assuming the editorship. Active in dramatics and athletics, he played quarterback on the football team for three years. After graduation from college, his first job was in Jamesville, WI, as associate boys' work secretary for the YMCA.

He enlisted in the Army as a private, and was assigned to the coast artillery at Camp Wallace. After four months there, he was transferred to Fort Bliss. World War II began, and he was sent to Fort Lawton in Seattle. He was then transferred to Camp Davis to the officers candidate division of the anti-aircraft artillery school. On August 27th, 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the coast Artillery. He instructed in mathematics at Camp Davis, Camp Hahn, CA, and Fort Bliss before being sent to Dover, England, in an anti-aircraft division, where he had a part in defending the English against the buzz bomb attacks. As a member of the 127th AAA Gun Battalion, he served in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Arriving home in time for Christmas in 1945, he was separated from the Army as a captain at Camp Fannin, TX.

During Mr. Heyl?s Army career he met Miss Wenonah Celeste Masterson, who became his bride. They were married on her birthday, March 24, 1943. A native of Houston, she attended public schools in Houston and the University of Houston. Nonie was a talented soprano and later became an accomplished painter in oils.

After his discharge from the Army, he entered the University of Texas Graduate School. While in school, he worked part time as a "computer," solving artillery equations under contract to the Army. He received his master?s degree in mathematics in August of 1947. Soon after graduation he came to San Angelo College as mathematics instructor. He later moved to Austin, TX, to take a position on the mathematics faculty at the University of Texas.

In 1950, the Heyls moved to Fairfax County, VA, where Mr. Heyl worked for many years for the Human Resources Research Office HumRRO of George Washington University. After some periods of employment as an analyst for the Rand Corporation and for the Central Atlantic Region Education Laboratory, he returned to HumRRO and was eventually made Director of Operations for HumRRO. After leaving HumRRO, he spent several more years as an administrator for the Fairfax County Public School System.

Mr. Heyl was an active Episcopalian, who served on many vestries and other lay committees.

After living in Fairfax County, VA, for almost 45 years, the Heyls moved to Nelsonville, OH, to escape the high cost and high traffic that accompany life near the Washington, DC, beltway. When chronic illnesses made it impossible for them to maintain their Nelsonville home, they moved to the Bristol Village Retirement Community in Waverly, OH, and then to the Lindley Inn, in The Plains, OH. Mr. Heyl spent his final months at the Hickory Creek Nursing and Rehab Center in The Plains.

Mr. Heyl is survived by his wife, Wenonah M. Heyl; two sons, Arnold A. Heyl, Jr. of Chantilly, VA, and James Heyl of Rochester, NY; three daughters, Celeste Parsons of Nelsonville, OH, Suzanne Heyl of Rochester, NY, and Linda Creegan of Corte Madera, CA; three grandsons, Christopher Heyl of Chantilly, VA, Carlos Claudio of Rochester, NY and Leo Zaklikowski, of Corte Madera, CA; four granddaughters, Robin Parsons of Mesa, AZ, Kelly Schmall of Gainesville, VA, Colleen Creegan of Corte Madera, CA, and Sophia Zaklikowski of Corte Madera, CA; two great grandsons, Gideon Hartman of Cincinnati, OH, and Taliesin Goeson of Mesa, AZ; and a great granddaughter, Emily Schmall of Gainesville, VA. He is also survived by his brother Gerald Heyl of Cincinnati, OH, and his sister, Hilde Gross of Wickenburg, AZ, having been preceded in death by brother Carl Heyl and sisters Luisa Foote, Frieda Williams, and Linda Carnine.

At his request, Mr. Heyl was cremated. A service will be held at a later date at the St. Patrick?s Episcopal Church, Falls Church, Virginia.
Arrangements are by Souers-Cardaras Funeral Home, Nelsonville.

The family suggests memorial contributions be made to St. Patrick?s Episcopal Church, 3241 Bush Dr., Falls Church, Virginia 22042.