Mabel Heaton (89) of Altamont

Mabel Heaton, 89, of Altamont, IL, passed away peacefully Saturday, May 28, 2016, at Lutheran Care Center in Altamont, IL.

Private family services will be held at a later date. Johnson Funeral Home, 1110 N. Fourth Street, Effingham, IL, 62401 is assisting the family. Memorials may be made in loving memory of Mabel to Lutheran Care Center, 702 W. Cumberland Road, Altamont, IL 62411 or Lincolnland Hospice, 1000 Health Center Drive, Mattoon, IL 61938.

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Mabel is spending time this Memorial Day in heaven with her husband Max, a Navy veteran from WW II. The two were childhood sweethearts, and Mabel had missed having Max with her since his passing in 2005. She married Max in 1947, shortly after he returned from serving on an LST in the English Channel off France during and after the D-Day landings. 

Mabel Estelle Parnell was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in 1927 to Allen and Eleanor (McConnell) Parnell. Mabel admitted to having named her own daughter “Elizabeth Diane”, so that she could have a wider choice of names and nicknames than her own mother had given her with “Mabel” and “Estelle.” Her older brother, Dewey, who she adored, was waiting for her at home. She reported that, like most brothers, he was often a trial, forever teasing and picking on her. She lived just down the street from Amos and Carrie (Gray) Heaton and their 13 children, one of whom was Reese Maxwell. Mabel and Max married and moved in 1947 to Illinois, where Max had found a job with the Central Illinois Public Service Company. They settled finally in Effingham, where they raised their 4 children, Skip, Lou, Dee, and John. Mabel worked as a wife, a mother, and a sometimes bookkeeper in Effingham for 40 years. In 1987, Max retired and the two moved back to South Carolina to be near their Heaton and Parnell relatives. Mabel moved back north in 2007 to live once again near her children and grandchildren in Kansas and Illinois. She lived at the lovely Lutheran Care Center in Altamont during her twilight years. She and her family would like to thank LCC and its wonderful staff for all of their attention and kindness to Mabel during her stay there. The family would also like to thank Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospice for their thoughtful guidance and care during Mabel’s final weeks.

Mabel is survived by her loving children: Maxwell Gray “Skip” (Henrietta) Heaton of St. Elmo; Louis Allen Heaton of Manhattan, KS; Elizabeth Diane “Dee” (David) Hartmann of Chicago; and John David Heaton of Olney; her adoring grandchildren Aaron Heaton of Effingham; Carrie Tooley of Winslow, IN; Haley Heaton of Lawrence, KS; Jacob (Amy) Hartmann of Chicago; Caleb (Patti) Hartmann of Glendale Heights; Nathaniel (Jennifer) Hartmann of Nashville, TN; Lucas (Jennifer) Hartmann of Lombard; and Abigail (Jonathan) Breshears of San Francisco, CA; and her handsome, beautiful and talented great-grandchildren Colby Heaton; Elijah, Mariah, and Nakiah Hickey; and Theodore and Frederick Hartmann. She, and her plain speaking, and her wit, will be greatly missed by all of her family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Max; and brother, Dewey.