Born Oct. 20, 1927
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Died June 25, 2025
Greensboro, Vermont
Details of services
A Family service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Platt Memorial Library, Main St. Shoreham VT 05770 they take only cash or checks.
Audrey S. Heinrichs-A Celebration of Life
It is with sorrow that we announce Audrey Heinrichs’ passing on June 25, 2025 at the age of 97. She was held in high respect. Audrey’s final home after a busy life of academia, personal and professional accomplishment and devoted family, including husband, four sons, 10 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, was at the Greensboro Nursing Home in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We thank the nursing home and NC Home Health and Hospice for their excellent care.
Mom earned a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois. She was a seasoned educator, and a teacher of teachers. As a University level professor, Mom contributed materially to the quality of education in her home districts.
A believer in the power of early education, Mom spent many hours reading to us, her children, at home. She came from a generation who believed that with a quality education, the ability to read and write well, a solid family background, a person could achieve great things. An early advocate for women’s rights, Mom pushed past the barriers that held women back in the 1970’s and 80’s. Opportunity awaited those who worked hard for it. Over the years she positively influenced literally hundreds of students, both men and women, with her skills and enthusiasm.
One of her great joys in life was her family. She invested herself in the lives of her kin, hosting family gatherings in Shoreham. She played a major role in the editing and production of her husband Waldo’s books. One of those books (Implacable Foes; co-written with Mark Gallicchio; Oxford University Press, 2017) won the Bancroft Award for Historical Writing from Columbia University. Waldo pre-deceased her in 2019 after nearly 70 years of marriage. Son Timothy, also a PhD in History, predeceased her in the fall of 2024.
Mom was highly skilled at many things. She played golf, she was a Master knitter, and she loved square dancing. She understood gardening and flower growing very well. Her home in Shoreham VT had lovely Peonies, Iris, and Hollyhocks.
Her daughters-in-law felt accepted and embraced. Her grandchildren’s lives were enriched by books and magazines and visits to museums. She actively sought ways to enhance and vitalize her relationships with her grandchildren. We would get lovely letters and cards signed Mom/Audrey/Granny underlining her multi-dimensional family ties.
Mom had challenges as well. She lost the ability to read because of blindness later in life and her hearing deteriorated as she aged. Mom was a great mother and outstanding educational professional and will be sorely missed.
