Helen E. Heimarck Memorial Scholarship

According to those who knew her, Helen Heimarck was a remarkable woman in a way that defied her time and her age. She was, as they say, a woman of good stock.

Helen was devoted to her church, her profession and her husband Reuben. Before her death in 1980, she spent many years as secretary for the Council of Churches and later as a social worker for Lutheran Social Services. She and Reuben were active members of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Los Angeles when CLU’s music professor, Carl Swanson, was organist and choir master there. When they retired and moved to Mesa, Arizona, the Heimarcks became active in Victory Lutheran Church.

Reuben had been a classmate of CLC’s first president, Orville Dahl, when both were students at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. After graduation Reuben held a variety of jobs, at different times working as a photographer, personnel officer, interior decorator for Sears (for 25 years), and even working at CLC in its earliest years. When Reuben heard the news that Dr. Dahl was involved in starting a new college “way out in Thousand Oaks,” he and Helen drove out to take a look. As he and Dr. Dahl discussed the many projects that needed to be done on the campus, Reuben found himself with a new position on the CLC facilities staff. He and Helen remained loyal supporters of the college and both served as being Founding Fellows.

Helen’s life of service was recognized in a special way at Good Shepherd Villa in Mesa. As a social worker she had been instrumental in getting the retirement home/ nursing facility for the elderly underway. Eventually a meditation chapel was built on the grounds of the facility that was named the Heimarck Chapel in her memory. Reuben couldn’t have been more proud when it was dedicated in 2000.

Reuben took one more step in memorializing his beloved wife by creating the Helen E. Heimarck Memorial Scholarship at CLU. Initially, it was to be funded through a life insurance policy, but Reuben decided he wanted to see it happen in his lifetime. To that end he endowed the scholarship through a generous cash gift. He chose simple criteria—the recipient was to be an upper-division student preparing for a career in social work.