Joanne C. Heffelfinger

June 2, 1931 – February 4, 2018

It is with deep sadness that we say farewell to Joanne Dawson Callery Heffelfinger who died surrounded by her family on February 4, 2018. Her beloved husband of 64 years, Totton P. Heffelfinger, preceded her in death just one year ago.

Joanne was born on June 2, 1931, the second of three children of Francis A. and Virginia R. A. Callery. Joanne’s early years were spent in Manhattan, where she attended the Chapin School, and her summers in East Yarmouth, Cape Cod, which she always remembered fondly. During World War II, her family moved to San Diego to join Francis, a financier who was then involved in forming Convair, an aircraft manufacturer.

Following boarding school in Baltimore, Joanne matriculated at Radcliffe College, graduating in 1952 with honors. It was at Radcliffe that she met Tot, who was attending Harvard Law School. Joanne enrolled in Harvard Law School --which had opened to women two years earlier-- and completed her first year before marrying and moving to Washington D.C., where Tot worked at the Pentagon. While in D.C., Joanne spent a semester at George Washington University Law School before another move: to San Francisco in 1954. Her studies were interrupted by the arrival of first Christopher, then Perry, Ellen and James, but she persevered and graduated from the University of San Francisco Law School in 1960.

Upon passing the California bar exam, Joanne became active in the civil rights movement, both with the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), and later with the YWCA. Her work at CORE took her through San Francisco and to Marin City for voter registration, rallies, and efforts to desegregate Marin City’s Manzanita School, often with various of her children in tow. At the YWCA, Joanne was an energetic participant in two programs, one being to prepare students for standardized employment tests. The second was the development of a co-op nursery school to ready incoming students at the Raphael Weill Elementary School. This YWCA preschool became one of four models for the Head Start Program.

In 1965, the family (which now included Matthew) moved to Athens, Greece for two years. While Tot represented Kaiser Engineers in an arbitration in northern Greece, Joanne learned the language, negotiated life in a new country and culture, and developed her taste for adventure. Many Friday evenings would find Joanne down at the ferry port of Piraeus setting off for another weekend expedition to a different Greek island in a VW bus loaded with sleeping bags and sleepy children. The years in Greece left a deep impression on the entire family, but most particularly on Joanne.

On our return to San Francisco in 1967, youngest son Steven joined the family, Joanne volunteered for Marin Country Day School, ultimately serving on its board of trustees, and she prodded her children to accompany her on peace marches and anti-war demonstrations. She also embarked on one of the greatest adventures of her life: the acquisition of a second BA (in ancient Greek from SF State), an MA in Classics from UC Berkeley and a PhD in 1991, also from Berkeley, in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology. Her academic explorations in her particular field, Prodosia --treason and the betrayal of country by those charged to protect it in ancient Athens-- occupied her thoughts and energies for years to come, as did various archaeological digs in Greece.

In the 1980’s Joanne and Tot were introduced to Nepal by their close friend Olga Murray who had started the Nepal Youth Foundation to help Nepalese children. As a result, they became surrogate parents over many years for two young Nepalese girls, Bishnu Maya Dhungana and Durga Thapa, who came to San Francisco for treatment at Shriner’s Hospital. Durga later became a shared seventh child with her Nepalese family.

Travel remained important to Joanne and Tot. Trekking in Nepal, kayaking both in Alaska and in Siberia, boating down the Nile were all on their itinerary, as were trips to southern Africa, Australia, the Mediterranean and Antarctica. Closer to home, Joanne enjoyed gardening, swimming, walking, socializing with old friends in Inverness, and weekly sessions with her Latin study group.

Joanne sometimes remarked that her political awareness and philosophy bloomed as a young government major at Radcliffe. To those who knew her, Joanne’s philosophy, indeed, her life, might best be defined as a quest for social justice, one ideally pursued both academically and at a hands-on level within the broader community. On a personal level, she never hesitated when met with an occasion to help; over the years, she went to bat for many causes and many individuals whose paths crossed her own.

To the last, Joanne was an academic, an activist, an adventurer and an advocate, ever curious about people, places and ideas. As her Latin club might put it, she was sui generis! She was greatly loved and will be dearly missed.

Joanne is survived by her children: Christopher (Amanda Weitman), Perry (Carey Chenoweth), Ellen (Richard Wiebe), James (Priscilla Perry), Matthew (Chering Lama), Steven, Durga (Scott Wood), her grandchildren James Heffelfinger; William, Charles and Emily Wiebe; Cedar, Linden, Rowan and Totton Heffelfinger; Nima and Rinchen Heffelfinger; Devin (Emily Lamelza), Kaley and Branden Heffelfinger; and her great grandchildren, Elli and Devin Jr.

The family gratefully thanks Teresita F. Cabanez and Angelica Murray for their compassionate care of Joanne in the past year. In lieu of flowers, donations in Joanne’s name may be made to the Nepal Youth Foundation or to Shriner’s Hospital in Sacramento. A gathering in Joanne’s memory is planned for late July.