Merle Heckard

Lake Junaluska, NC-Merle Carpenter Heckard, age 87, died Sunday, November 28, 2004 at her residence. She was born in Rutherford County in Cliffside, NC and was the daughter of the late John Crawford and Nola Mamie Smart Carpenter. She was a member of First United Methodist Church of Waynesville, NC. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was educated in the public schools of Cliffside, NC and a graduate of Asheville Normal and Teachers College. She did graduate work at W.C.U.N.C., Greensboro, Queens College, Charlotte, NC, and Lenoir Rhyne College, Hickory, NC. She was an elementary school teacher who taught in schools in Western North Carolina - Children's Home, Winston-Salem, Granite Falls, Marion, Albemarle, Hickory, and at Lake Junaluska where she as lived since her husband's death. She was very supportive of her husband's ministry wherever he served, in addition to being a leader in civic, community, and church affairs, which she continued after her retirement. She was preceded in death by her husband, Reverend Dr. Cecil L. Heckard in 1975. Dr. Heckard served as a chaplain in the U.S. Fifth Air Force during World War II and as a minister and a district superintendent in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. Also preceding her in death are a son, William Crawford Heckard in 1948 and a daughter, Linda Merle Heckard Guthrie Hofmann in 2000, and her brother, James Leburn Carpenter in 2002. She is survived by a sister, Erlene Hicks and her husband, Walter L. Hicks, of Greenville, SC; two grandchildren, Mark Lynnwood Guthrie and wife, Robin, of Maryland, and Alison Elizabeth Guthrie Dowla and husband, Jim, of Maryland, four great grandchildren, Travis Allen Guthrie, Meagan Hahn Guthrie, Macy Linda Dowla, and Hayden Guthrie Dowla. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 2, 2004 at First United Methodist Church of Waynesville, NC. The Reverend Dr. W. Lyn Sorrells, Reverend Dr. John Christy, the Reverend Dr. J. Clay Madison, and the Reverend Dr. Thomas R. Sigmon will officiate. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 from 4:00 until 6:00 p.m. at Wells Funeral Home of Waynesville where the body will remain until placed in the church one hour prior to the service. The committal service will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 2, 2004 at Gaston Memorial Park, Gastonia, NC. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Owen Heart Center, c/o Mission Foundation, 509 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801.

Previous Events