Sue Heckart: The spirit of generosity

Her donations will provide places for students to study medicine and give people a place to enjoy fine performing arts, but Sue Heckart does not relish attention for her generous contributions to the community.

Heckart, owner of the Heckart Family Funeral Home in Sedalia and finalist for the Freedom Torch Award for Community Service, has given time and money to the community for more than a decade. 

She donated $2 million to fund the Heckart Performing Arts Center at the new high school and another $1 million to State Fair Community College for the Heckart Science and Allied Health Center.

The buildings are named in honor of her family, particularly her grandfather, who was a doctor in Topeka, Kan., she said. His estate allowed her parents to purchase the funeral home when they moved to Sedalia in 1948.

Heckart also hosts an annual Wreath of Remembrance memorial ceremony on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to memorialize those who have died in the community. At the 2008 ceremony, Heckart donated more than $75,000 to local charities.

She does not take credit for her generosity, however, saying the donations are her family’s way of giving back to the community that welcomed them in and supported their business for more than six decades.

“We came here as total strangers, and Sedalia has been good to us,” Heckart said. “This is our way of giving back to the community, and it is our way of thanking the families that supported our family funeral home over the last 61 years. They have made these gifts possible, and they deserve all the glory and honor, not me.”

Her family established the Heckart Family Foundation in 1994 to benefit people young and old in the community. Since then, Heckart has made several donations toward scholarships, the Sedalia Public Library, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Bothwell Health Center Hospice, the local VFW post and the Sedalia Senior Center.

“The young people are the future of the country. If we can help a young person through their education and fulfill their dream, that makes me feel good,” Heckart said.

For someone whose name is scattered across the community, Heckart does not seek recognition for her generous contributions. Leanna Horn, who nominated Heckart for the Freedom Torch Award for Community Service, said Heckart was shocked when she heard that Horn had nominated her.

“I didn’t tell Sue I had nominated her, and when she learned I had through the newspaper, she was really surprised. She said, ‘I like to stay in the background,’ ” Horn said.

Horn said Heckart is so intent on giving now because she wants to determine where the money can go to benefit the most people in the community.

“Most of the things she does are for students to better themselves, and also for the community at large,” Horn said.

Heckart considers her donations to be gifts from her family rather than herself, and she credits the community for making them possible.

“Had it not been for families that support us, we couldn’t do this,” Heckart said. “It’s very humbling. I am kind of the type of person that doesn’t seek the spotlight, I would rather just be in the background.”

Heckart intends to leave her entire estate toward charitable donations in Sedalia after she dies, but in the meantime she will continue to make contributions to benefit the community.

“Sedalia has been very good to us, and this is the best way I know of saying thank you and giving back,” Heckart said.