Regina A. (Heupel) Adam
Regina A. (Heupel) Adam
Regina Adam passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning
of July 9, 2014. She lived her life
fully until the very last day. Regina
was born on October 7, 1921 on a farm near Leola, South Dakota. Her parents, Fred and Rose Heupel were new
immigrants from Odessa Russia and Regina was the oldest of 6 kids. She grew up speaking first German and then
English. She graduated from high school
in Leola in 1939 and continued on to Northern State Teacher’s College. She graduated with a teaching certificate in
1941. She married Elmer Adam in
1943. Her first son, Gary was born in
1944 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, followed by a daughter, Linda in 1945. The family moved from Aberdeen settling
briefly in Salt Lake City, Boise, Phoenix, and finally ending up back in Boise
in the early 1960’s.
Regina had a passion for early childhood education and spent
most of her life engaged in teaching young children to read. She began by teaching in country schools near
Leola, South Dakota and after leaving South Dakota, she taught in various
preschool settings. When her third
child, Paul, was Kindergarten age, Regina began her own private kindergarten
because she felt strongly that children could benefit from early education,
especially learning to read. She read to
her own four kids and many of our best memories with our mom are evenings of
reading together, first she reading to us and then when we were old enough, us
reading to her. She inspired a love of
books and learning in all of us that continues to this day.
She took a brief hiatus from teaching when her last child,
Tami, completed kindergarten. At this
time, Regina returned to school and completed her bachelor’s degree at Boise
State College in 1973. She was 52 years old.
During the 70’s she was active in canvassing for kindergarten education being
included in public schools. Due to the
hard work of many people including Regina, kindergarten is now a part of the
public school curriculum in Idaho.
In the mid 70’s, Regina founded Small Wonder Preschool and
Daycare in Boise. This was a perfect
opportunity for her to satisfy her teaching passion during morning preschool
classes and provide childcare for the area residents in the afternoon. The
preschool operated for over 25 years. After
retiring from Small Wonder, Regina continued to teach pre-reading skills at
Parkside School in Boise, and then at Bronco Elite, in Boise. She finally
completely retired from teaching in her early 80’s.
In addition to teaching, Regina loved gardening and cooking
traditional German dishes handed down from family in South Dakota. Over the
past few years, many of her recipes (written and unwritten) were handed over to
daughter Tami during Friday afternoon cooking adventures. Favorite dishes included dumplings, chicken
and noodles, halupsi (cabbage rolls), borscht, kuchen, and cinnamon rolls. She grew her own rhubarb and made a delicious
rhubarb pie…she liked it tart! Over the
years, many summer Sundays were spent on mountain drives, harvesting
chokecherries or elderberries to be made into jam. She supported Bronco football and listened to
games on the radio before they became watchable on TV. She loved all animals, especially cats and is
survived by her dear old friend, Kitten.
Throughout her life, Regina lived with a fiery German spirit
that made her seem invincible to obstacles.
She found it very hard to slow down when congestive heart failure was
diagnosed last summer. She was lucky to
have her son, Paul during this past year, to provide company and care during
days of declining health. Her last day on earth was a day of sunshine and
laughter spent with son Gary and daughter, Linda on a fun
outing in McCall. Though our hearts are
broken from losing her, we are comforted knowing that hers was truly a life
well lived.
Regina was preceded in death by her husband Elmer, parents
Rose and Fred Heupel, four brothers and one sister. She is survived by her children, Gary Adam,
Paul Adam, Tami Campbell and Linda Sawdey; grandchildren, Paul and Chris Adam;
and great-grandchildren, Baily and Bodhi Adam.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Idaho Humane
Society.
Funeral Services will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church,
Friday, July 18, at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Dry Creek
Cemetery.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Regina A. (Heupel) Adam, please visit our flower store.
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