City officials and a host of family and friends gathered at the Mansfield Senior Center on Friday, August 23 at 10 a.m. to celebrate the life of Margie Heydenreich. Heydenreich will turn 100 years old on August 27.
She was born in Midland, Arkansas and spent her entire life within a 50-mile radius. She grew up in Greenwood and graduated from Greenwood High School. From there, she went on to graduate from Fort Smith Junior Collge with a degree in Home Economics.
She was from a noble family of educators and her father and mother were teachers in the area. At one time they taught at Buckner College in Witcherville, Arkansas where her grandfather, James Bayless Williamson, was president. He also was Superintendent of schools in Sebastian County. Her uncle, James C. Williamson, was pastor of First Baptist Church in Greenwood.
She had a twin brother, Jack, two older brothers, Bill and Dale, along with four sisters, Louise, Ella Mayme, Helen, and Dorothy, all of whom are deceased. She married Russell Heydenreich in 1941 and celebrated 47 years of marriage prior to his death in 1988. Russell was on the Mansfield City Council for a number of years. They had two children, Evelyn Heydenreich Bone and Russell Heydenreich, Jr., two grandchildren, Lori McGiboney and Wade Heydenreich, and six great-grandchildren.
Heydenreich has lived in Mansfield for the last 50 years and attends Coop Prairie Church. She also goes to the Senior Center most every day and loves to play dominoes and have coffee with her friends.
Mansfield Mayor Buddy Black presented Heydenreich with a Key to the City, and made a proclamation declaring August 23, 2019 as Margie Heydenreich day.
In addition to Friday’s celebration, her family also held a gathering at Adelaide Hall in Fort Smith on Saturday, August 24.
