Marilyn Kay Heady Kling (1944-2007)

KLING, HEADY, HOPPERT, KEEFE, BELL

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 3/4/2007 at 08:42:02

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Sunday, March 4, 2007.

Marilyn Kay Heady Kling, 62, of Macomb, Ill., and formerly of Ames, died Friday at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill. Visitation will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Clugston-Tibbins Funeral Home, 303 East Washington, Macomb. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1212 West Calhoun St., Macomb, with The Rev. Steve Smith officiating. Cremation rites will be accorded.

Marilyn Kay Heady was born March 29, 1944, in Ames to Earl and Marian Hoppert Heady. She married Tim Kling Aug. 8, 1965. She grew up in Ames and graduated from Ames High School. After graduation, she went to University of Iowa to study interior design and was a member of the Theta Sorority.

While in Iowa City, she met Ray and Janice Steele. With the help of the Steeles, Marilyn began to show and raise Shetland Sheepdogs. She loved the gentleness and playfulness of the Shelties and always found great joy in grooming, showing and playing with the dogs. Her house was always filled with adults and litters of puppies. For Marilyn, dog shows were a fun way of traveling, meeting new people and seeing new things. Along with her husband and two kids, she would pile about 12 dogs into a van to road trip across the country during the summer from dog show to show. At these dog shows, She forged friendships across the country that lasted many decades.

While attending a dog show, she found the town of Macomb, Ill., and when she came back to Iowa City, she constantly spoke about "this nice community with a college," she knew it was the right place to raise a family. In July 1974, she moved with her family moved to Macomb, where she stayed until her death.

While in Macomb, she worked on refurbishing the Old Bailey House, which won many awards for the restoration and decorating. Basically, she was refurbishing an old Victorian, long before it was either fashionable or made for good TV. She owned and operated Nostalgia Decorating in Macomb, which began as an offshoot of the restoration. It started as a window in a consignment shop on the southwest corner of the square and later became a very successful enterprise as a small department store/boutique. She was the type of person who always paid attention to the details, of course, making her a terrific small business owner.

Growing up, she also loved to paint and to play the clarinet. She also used her artistic talents and sense of color to design magnificent gardens. She always loved to have fresh flowers from spring through fall, and loved the fringe benefit of the butterflies and birds that would frequent her gardens.

Her sons, Andrew and Nathan, received the animal-loving gene from their mother. When all the animals came around as her two boys grew up, her childhood love and patience for them (and her boys) helped immensely. Grandma often says, "There wasn't a kitten she didn't pick up to bring home" ...and the kittens she brought home usually seemed to be quite fertile.

Goats, rabbits, chickens and horses, she had them all in her backyard. As with her own horse growing up, she loved taking care of these animals and helped Andy and Nate with the chores every day.
She was extremely proud of her father, Earl Heady. He was a professor of agricultural economics at Iowa State University and traveled all over the world working on a variety of agricultural projects. Her family would leave Ames for six months to one year at a time due to his teaching and sabbatical leaves at places such as Harvard, Berkley and University of Chicago. When away from Ames, she grew up part of the time in Boston (where she took art lessons at the Museum of Fine Arts), Palo Alto, Calif., Minneapolis, Chicago and several other cities throughout the United States. Ultimately, she loved to go back to Ames where her heart, friends and horse were located.

She was a member of the Macomb Chamber of Commerce, Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, Retail Advisory Board of National Gift and Retail Magazine, American Kennel Club and the American Shetland Sheepdog Association. While growing up in Ames, she attended Collegiate United Methodist Church and until her death, she attended Wesley United Methodist Church in Macomb. In addition, she was a former member of the P.E.O.

She is survived by her mother; Marian Heady, of Ames; two sons, T. Andrew Kling, of Boston, and Nathan D. Kling, of New York City; one brother, Stephen E. Heady, of Portland, Ore.; one sister, Barbara (Stan Smith) Heady, of Des Moines; and two future daughter-in-laws, Susan E. Keefe (granddaughter of Helen Stewart, of Macomb,) and Elizabeth Bell.
She was preceded in death by her father in 1987 and one daughter, Kimberly Kling, in 1972.

Memorials may be made to either the American Shetland Sheepdog Association or the Bailey House, in care of the McDonough County Historical Preservation Society.

You may sign the guest book and leave online condolences at www.clugston-tibbittsfh.com.

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