Wayne County Press
Fairfield Illinois
Monday, Sept. 9, 1985
Page 2

A former pilot and Champion Lab personnel manager, Willard "Bill" Heidinger, 65, of Fairfield, died at 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 1985, at Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Heidinger suffered a heart attack Aug. 30.

Mr. Heidinger was the husband of the former Edna Cox, of Fairfield.

Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Monday (today) at Johnson Funeral Home with Rev. Louis Frick and Rev. Robert Krause officiating. Burial followed in Maple Hill Cemetery.

Mr. Heidinger was born in Massilon township, Wayne County, Sept. 25, 1919, the son of George Norman and Emily Gaddy Heidinger.

He attended Toms Prairie School, graduated from FCHS in the Class of 1937 and attended three years of school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, prior to enlisting in the Army Air Corps in March of 1941.

Mr. Heidinger entered military service during World War II with the rank of 2nd Lt., which he was commissioned before the start of the war.  He was discharged May of 1947 with the rank of major. He served as a flight instructor in Texas and later as a combat pilot and Squadron Operations Officer in the European Theater.

Mr. Heidinger married Edna Cox in 1950. The couple lived in Abilene, Tex. until returning to Fairfield in 1960.

Mr. Heidinger engaged in farming in Massilon township and worked for the telephone company and Airtex prior to being employed as a pilot with Robinson Drilling Company of Abilene, Tex., for eight years.  After returning to Fairfield, he was employed in personnel at Airtex, later working as a pilot for Champion Laboratories and then as Personnel Manager before retiring in 1982.

He was an active member of the Fairfield First United Methodist Church and served in various offices.

Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Edna Heidinger, of Fairfield; two sons, John Heidinger, of Albion; and Paul Heidinger, of Fairfield; one brother, Don Heidinger, of Tehana, Calif.; a sister Mrs. H. G. (Doris) Barnum, of Hemet, Calif., and one granddaughter.

Preceding him in death were his parents, two sisters and two brothers.