Former students honor 100-year-old educator

By Alex Luft

For the first time in 30 years, Dorothy Heying stood before a class at Hermann High, and this time around, it was standing-room only. A crowd of about 50 of Heying’s former students gathered at the high school to help celebrate their former teacher’s 100th birthday.

She will officially join the centenarian club on Saturday, Dec. 5. An open house party is planned in her honor at the United Methodist Church in Hermann starting at 2 p.m.

Heying’s former students remembered her as a dedicated teacher, a stylish woman and an educator who could find unorthodox ways to reach her students. Several of the students, who are now seniors themselves, remembered being “troublemakers” that benefitted from Heying’s patience.

Students also remembered Heying’s insistence on accurate sentence diagramming as a basis for all writing, and many credited her with instilling them with a love of English. Heying was also remembered for her service as a class sponsor for countless junior and senior classes.

But Mrs. Heying remembered her students as well as they remembered her, meeting the crowd and identifying even those she hadn’t seen in decades.

“I love people,” Heying told the group. “If I can help them, it pleases me.”

Heying began teaching when she was 17 years old, and as she said, she never had any other career. Heying taught for more than 50 years until she retired in 1979. She was married to another educator, Geoffrey Heying, who served as the superintendent for Gasconade County R-1 Schools.

She said that though she and Geoffrey never had children of their own, she has about 1,000 kids.

Correction: A previous version of this report listed Mrs. Heying's husband's name as George. The man's name is actually Geoffrey.