Max Edgar Heinzmann

At 91 years of age, Max E. Heinzmann passed away of natural causes on December 7, 2009 at his home in Burlington, Washington.

A memorial service will be held at Oakwood Hill Funeral Chapel, Tacoma, at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, January 10, 2010. Condolences may be left at www.oakwoodhillfuneralchapel.com, and a memorial will soon be available there as well.

He was born to Max Joseph Heinzmann and Hattie (Kluck) Heinzmann in Peetz, Colorado on October 10, 1918. As a child he moved with his family to the Sumner area in Pierce County. He graduated from Sumner High School in 1937, and then enlisted in the US Navy. He married Doris Alvina Berg of Graham, Washington, on July 29, 1941.

Just one month prior to his scheduled discharge from the Navy, his life changed as his ship, the USS Phoenix, was making her last scheduled stop at Pearl Harbor on the way back to San Diego. He witnessed first-hand the sinking of the USS Arizona, and saw the faces of both the Zero pilots and the US sailors adrift in the burning, diesel-fouled water. The Phoenix successfully reached the open sea that day—this was to be the first of 25 sea battles he and the ship would survive through the entirety of the war in the Pacific.

Returning to the states after the war to be honorably discharged as Chief Petty Officer Electrician, he lived with Doris in San Diego and worked for Western Electric for a couple of years. Then, moving back to Washington, he and Doris settled in Tacoma, raising their two children. He worked for Dun & Bradstreet for 36 years, retiring in 1983 as a Commercial Credit Analyst. With Max at her side, Doris passed away in 1991. Max remained at home until he moved in 2004 to the Monroe House in Moses Lake, close to his son Max D. Just this past August, as his health declined, he moved to the Where the Heart Is facility in Burlington, near his daughter Karen.

Max is survived by his daughter, Karen Hall, her husband Tim, their sons Kevin and Michael, their daughter Kristen Laycock, her husband John, and their children Justin and Ashley. He is also survived by his son, Max D. Heinzmann, his wife Dulcie, and their children Meredith and Max W. Max’s elder brother Joseph, who also served in the Navy during the war and worked for the federal government for many years, and also his parents, preceded him in death. In the early 1920s, Max lost a younger, infant sister.

Having made it through a childhood of poverty, he was an earnest man of modest means and great frugality who prided himself in building a life for his family. While he endured declining health in his last few years, he will be remembered with love by his family and friends. For his valor in the years lost to war, his reluctance to complain about anything, and his love for his family, he has left the world better for his effort, and his family touched by his determination.