Dr. Pamela Hearn

Dr. Pamela Hindman Hearn passed away Sunday night August 23, 2009, at her home in Cape Girardeau. She was born in Anna, Il, June 7, 1936, daughter of Ruel and LaWanda Pygett Hindman. She went to Anna Jonesboro High School, where she excelled in academics and music. At SIU, she got her undergraduate degree in music and theater, along the way performing numerous musical comedy and dramatic roles, including Laurey in Oklahoma and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. During those years, her mother and aunt got her involved in the world of beauty pageants. In that realm, a major achievement was to be chosen as Anna Centennial Queen in 1954. After two years of High School teaching and a summer at the Highland Park Illinois Music Theater, she returned to SIU to get her Master�s Degree in English. There she met Charles. They were married in Carbondale August 12, 1962, and immediately headed for Minneapolis-St. Paul, where she taught at The College of St. Catherine and later Hamlin University while he worked on his PhD at the University of Minnesota. While at St. Catherine�s, she was nominated for a Danforth Teaching Award. In 1967, she and her husband joined the English Department at Southeast Missouri State University. There she was a popular and compelling teacher. She was also a role model and mentor for countless students, colleagues and others. A strong advocate for women, she helped change the policy of hiring in wives of faculty members as lecturers, without full benefits, and she was a driving force in developing a Women�s Studies minor at the University. While teaching full time and mothering two children, she worked on and eventually received her PhD at SIU. More than a dedicated career woman, she was a devoted wife and mother who loved her husband, children and grandchildren unconditionally and was tireless in giving them the attention and nurturing they needed. Loving survivors include her husband, Charles; a son, Steve (Nancy) of Austin, Texas; a daughter, Melissa Vogelsang (Aaron) of Cape Girardeau; four grandchildren, Joey, Katie and Kelly Hearn of Austin, and Ava Vogelsang of Cape Girardeau; and a cousin, Judy (John) Stoddard of Florida. She was preceded in death by her parents. Friends may call at the Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel from 5 to 8 pm Thursday, August 27, 2009. The funeral will be at 1pm Friday, August 28, 2009 at the funeral home, with the Rev. Bob Towner presiding. Entombment will be at Cape County Memorial Park Mausoleum.

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Dr. Pamela Hearn

August 23, 2009