John Heilman

John was born March 20, 1936, in Chicago to Frederick J. and Kathryn G. Heilman and spent most of the next 40 years there. He married Virginia L. Anderson in 1956 and they celebrated their 65th anniversary in January, a milestone in which he took great pride.

John received a bachelor’s degree in food engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1961, after more than six years of attending mostly night school while working days in the laboratory for several companies in Chicago. He shifted into engineering work with Armour Co. and spent four years with the company before taking another engineering job with Central Soya in 1962. He returned to Chicago in 1965 and four years later joined Allied Mills, which was majority owned by Continental Grain. In 1975, Continental acquired all of Allied and transferred John to New York, where he remained until retiring in 1991 after 23 years with the company. He spent much of his career designing new or expanded soybean processing plants. After retiring, John moved to Colorado Springs and became a self-employed consultant for 12 years, working for clients worldwide before shutting down the business in 2003.

John was active in the American Oil Chemists Society for more than 50 years, serving 40 years on its finance committee and both as vice president and president of the trade association. He also was president of the Pinon Glen Homeowners Association. John was a member of the United Methodist Church for nearly 60 years, including more than 30 years with First United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs, where he spent many years volunteering for the church’s television ministry.

John is survived by his wife, Virginia; two sons and spouses, Wayne and Donna Heilman of Colorado Springs, and Warren Heilman and James Siler of Savannah, Ga.; five grandchildren and spouses, Katherine Bennett, Chris and Jennifer Heilman and Carrie Heilman, all of Colorado Springs; Jessica and Dexter Whitehead of Savannah and Joseph and Angela Heilman of Washington, D.C., and six great grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9 at First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave., with the Rev. Kent Ingram officiating. The service will be available livestream online at https://www.fumc-cs.org/.

Memorial donations may be made to First United Methodist Church, the American Cancer Society or the American Heart Association.

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