Lori Heims Memorial Endowment

Success Story

In its third year since inception, the Lori Heims Memorial Endowment fund was happy to make a donation to the Edgewood Cemetery Association. When Lori Heims passed away in 2016, her family made the Edgewood Cemetery the final resting place. This cemetery is also the resting place of Lori's parents, Duane and Irene Weyant, and Lori's niece, Michelle Weyant. "It's important to our family that the Edgewood Cemetery continue to be taken care of. Melissa Kirby, one of Lori's daughters said, "With many people we love being laid to rest there, we would like to have a small part in helping with the maintenance and that is why we chose to make this donation in our mom's name."

Lori served as the Sexton of the smaller Greenhill Cemetery, north of Edgewood from 2012 until her death in 2016. During that time, Lori handled plot purchases, burials, and paying for the annual mowing. "From her work with the Greenhill Cemetery, our mom knew that annual maintenance and upkeep is a huge cost to all cemeteries, so we think she would appreciate any help we can provide to the Edgewood Cemetery for these purposes" said daughter, Alison Robinson.

The Edgewood Public Library was the recipient of the first gift from the Lori Heims Memorial Endowment. Set up by the daughters of Lori Heims, the endowment was created in 2021 to memorialize their mom who passed away in 2016.

The Edgewood Public Library was selected for the first gift for many reasons. “We have many positive memories of the library growing up. We thought this would be a great opportunity to support the community we grew up in and give back in a way that can hopefully benefit many people,” said daughter Melissa Kirby.

As children, their mom would make frequent trips to the library for her kids and instilled a love for reading and learning that continue to this day. Alison Robinson added, “Going to the library was like a treat for us. Participating in Story Time or the summer reading programs kept us excited about reading, and also seeing our mom reading with her very little free time showed us how important it was.”

Heims’ daughters said walking into the library after many years brought back many memories. Robinson said, “I was so impressed with the fun atmosphere Cathy and staff have created. Bright colors, games, coloring sheets, computers, decorations all contributed to a welcoming environment.”

“We think our mom would be very happy with our first donation,” said Kirby.

Second Annual Gift Made from Lori Heims Memorial Endowment

The Edgewood-Colesburg High School Friends of the Arts program was the recipient of the second annual gift from the Lori Heims Memorial Endowment. Set up by the daughters of Lori Heims, the endowment was created in 2021 to memorialize their mom who passed away in 2016.

Lori and her three daughters all graduated from Ed-Co High School. While her daughters were students at Ed-Co, Lori encouraged them to be involved in any extracurricular activities of interest, all of which ended up being activities supported by the Friends of the Arts.

All three daughters were involved in band during all four years of their high school career. “For me, being a part of band was an enjoyable and beneficial part of my school years by providing both a social atmosphere as well as teaching skills that translated to the academic world and beyond,” said daughter Melissa Kirby.

In the combined eleven years of having her children involved in band, her daughters say Lori did not miss attending one concert. “Our band teacher always told us to ‘play for someone you love.’ The three of us played for our mom,” said daughter Alison Robinson.

In addition to band, Lori enjoyed supporting her daughters in their art courses, speech, theatre productions, as well as in their academic pursuits. Social media offers Lori’s daughters the opportunity to see activities that are currently offered to students at Ed-Co. They hope this donation will continue to positively impact the programs that provided many positive memories.