Elsie Barbara Heineman

Heineman, Elsie B. 87 May 8 1927 April 4 2015 Elsie Barbara (Tschida) Heineman passed away of natural causes in her sleep. Elsie was born in Brooks, Oregon, May 8th, 1927, the 10th of 11 children born to Magdalena (Harty) Tschida and Victor Tschida. In 1931, when Elsie was four and a half years old, her mother died and the children were distributed amongst relatives and orphanages. Elsie and her sister Elizabeth were adopted by their uncle John Tschida (Victor’s brother) and Elsie (Gottschalk) Tschida, who were residing above the Gottschalk's Tavern in Sellwood (now the Sellwood Inn). She attended Sellwood Grade School until the second grade when they moved to Oak Grove, Oregon, to a home on an acre of land on Linden Lane, surrounded by open fields, where Elsie and her sister enjoyed their childhood with chickens, goats, cherry trees for climbing, and many friends and relatives nearby. She attended St. John's Grade and High Schools in Milwaukie. After graduating from high school she worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad at the Portland Train Station with girlfriends Barbara and Wahnita. Elsie met her husband, Adam Heineman, through family friends, the Hopfers. They were married at St. John’s Catholic Church in Milwaukie on April 12, 1947. They had three children: Connie, Neal and Gail. Adam's engineering career led them to live in Detroit and Portland in Oregon, Caracas and Guanare in Venezuela, and Pollock Pines, California. When they returned to Portland for good in the early sixties, Elsie was active in Vernon School PTA. She went back to work in 1971 and worked at First National Bank until taking early disability retirement in 1975. During this time she and Adam divorced and she remained single the rest of her life. She was an enthusiastic dancer of all genres but particularly loved yodel music. She loved the ocean and collected shells. In recent years her daughters took her to see the Rockaway cabin where she stayed as a child. Watching wrestling on TV was another love. Her routine wound around when the wrestling shows were on TV. For her fiftieth birthday she was taken by the family to the wrestling arena on N. Chautauqua Avenue for a live show. She enjoyed tole painting and photography. She wrote letters and sent photos from the olden days to anyone she knew would enjoy them. She was very generous with what she had and was always giving away food and some of her “treasures” to those she felt would appreciate it. Elsie kept an immaculate house, and visitors were welcomed. She made many close friends with her neighbors during the last 40 years of her life, when she lived independently, caring for her flower garden. Elsie stayed in touch with many people from her childhood, her many relatives in Canada and Eastern Oregon, Adam’s coworkers and families, parents of her children’s school chums, and her coworkers at First National Bank. She had two pets who shared her later years, Bridgette, her dog, who lived at several locations with her and Kitty Baby, the neighbor’s cat who decided to live with her for the last ten years. She was able to live independently until shortly before her passing, as was her wish. She told a daughter, “I am not afraid to die. I have two loving mothers waiting for me in heaven.” Elsie was predeceased by her parents Magdalena and Victor Tschida, her adoptive parents, John and Elsie Tschida, her siblings Leo, Adam, Eve, Frank, Amelia, Joseph, John, Victor, and Elizabeth. She is survived by her brother Edward, children Connie Shipley (David), Neal Heineman (Judy), and Gail Heineman (Grady Taylor), five grandchildren Katie, David, Eric, Emily and Zach Heineman, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Memorial service will be held on April 17th, 1 pm, at Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home, 6705 SE 14th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97202. Email elsie.heineman.service@gmail.com to let family know you will be attending or if you want to contact the family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Meals on Wheels. Service Information