Maurine E. Hean

North Newton, KS -Maurine Siemens Hean passed away on Thursday, January 23, 2020 at Kidron Bethel Village in North Newton, Kansas. She was born in Newton, Kansas on February 22, 1927 to Jacob and Anna Enns Siemens, attended Newton public schools and graduated from Bethel College in 1949 with a B.S. degree in Home Economics. While at Bethel College, Maurine met James Robert Hean (Jim) from Philadelphia and they married on September 1, 1950 at Bethel College Mennonite Church (BCMC) before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan where Jim had received a fellowship for graduate study at the University of Michigan. There Maurine worked as a resident hall dietician. By 1963 they settled in Camp Springs, Maryland with their four children and joined the local Presbyterian Church. Jim was deacon and elder, and Maurine sang in the church choir and joined the women’s circle. They were both active in the Meals on Wheels program in Prince George’s County, Maryland for over 20 years. Maurine was also a substitute teacher at local junior high and high schools. She loved to sew and cook, and her hobbies included making beautiful dresses, doll clothes, curtains, and linens for her family. After their children were grown and Jim retired, they moved back to Newton in 1991 to be near family and old friends and rejoin BCMC. Maurine volunteered with the Church Women United and the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra. Jim developed health problems and died in January, 1996. Maurine loved her family, church, and the North Newton community and will be remembered as a steadfast wife and mother and loving sister, aunt, and grandmother. Surviving Maurine are her children—Fred Hean (Claire Frances) of Charlottesville, Virginia; Susanne Gardner (Nelson) of Edgewater, Maryland; Chuck Hean (Heidi Close) of West Des Moines, Iowa; and David Hean of Silver Spring, Maryland, along with six grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Also surviving are her two brothers— Richard Siemens (Frances) of North Newton and Robert Siemens (Bonita) of Lenexa, Kansas — and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Memorial contributions may be made to the BCMC in North Newton, Kansas. Interment will be at the BCMC Columbarium. The Hean and Gardner families would like to thank everyone for their kindness and thoughtfulness during Maurine’s last years at Kidron Bethel Village. A celebration of life service is planned for 11 a.m. March 14 at Bethel College Mennonite Church.