Longtime community volunteer Connie Heckathorn dies

Longtime community volunteer Connie Heckathorn, who spent more than six decades volunteering in Whitefish and the Flathead Valley, has died.

Heckathorn died March 19 at the age of 93 in Whitefish. She and her husband Jake met while attending law school in Helena, and they moved to Whitefish in 1954.

Heckathorn began volunteering in the Flathead Valley in 1954. Her work focused heavily on the library and education with her serving three terms on the Whitefish School Board.

“I like to keep busy and don’t seem very good at saying no,” she told the Pilot in 1987. “I like the challenge and solving problems, but most of all I really enjoy working with people and being involved.”

Andy Feury, former Whitefish Mayor and current City Councilor, said Heckathorn was a great citizen and she will be missed.

"There are very few volunteers who spend as many hours volunteering as she did," he said. "We are grateful for all the hours she spent volunteering for our community."

Prior to moving here, Heckathorn was the First Assistant Attorney General of the State. After her children were older, she was a contract manager and house counsel at Crestwood Properties. She also served as the substitute city judge.

Heckathorn co-chaired the Whitefish Community Center Project to construct a new library and the O'Shaughnessy Center. She also supported the revitalization of the Whitefish Central School auditorium.

She helped co-found the Whitefish Community Foundation where she was also a board member. She was also a member of several civic organizations.

Heckathorn was an avid reader, her family notes, thus she put much of her volunteer energy into the Whitefish Library volunteering for them for over four decades. A meeting room at the library was named in her and her husband’s honor.

Heckathorn was named the First Lady of Whitefish for 1981 and was also honored as the valley- wide Volunteer of the Year by the United Way.

Heckathorn is survived by her daughter Marti Bezdicek of Spokane, Washington, along with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jake, who died in 2018 and son, Jim.