Marshall Lee Heckaman

Marshall Lee Heckaman, 79, passed away peacefully at Parkview Regional Medical Center on November 2, 2025, after a valiant effort to overcome multiple health issues. He was born in Marshall County, Indiana, on December 22, 1945, to John D. and Ruth E. Heckaman.

He spent his childhood growing up on a farm in Marshall County. He graduated from Bremen High School in 1963 and then joined the United States Navy in August 1963. Because his lifelong passion was aviation, after his tour he went to Fort Wolters, Texas, where he learned to fly helicopters. He learned well and became an instructor there until the Vietnam war was ending. He received an Associate in Business Administration degree from Tyler Junior College in 1973, but his heart was still in the sky. He soon began flying helicopters in various capacities around the world until he paused his professional flying in order to provide stability and benefits for the future. He enjoyed a career with the Defense Contract Management Agency, retiring in 2005 with over 20 years service. After retirement he returned again to flying helicopters for a few years in Canada. He also enjoyed flying fixed wing aircraft. He first owned a Stinson and later a Swift airplane which he flew out of the Warsaw airport.

Although he loved aviation, he was a man of many interests and talents. He enjoyed being outdoors hunting, fishing, mowing, plowing, restoring acres to prairie grasses and flowers, making maple syrup, and traveling to see as much of the country as he could. He enjoyed being in his workshop where he built things, fixed things, sharpened things, and took things apart to see how they worked. He enjoyed looking for treasures at auctions and online. He was interested in sausage making, in photography, in all things historical, in keeping up with technology, and was a skillful writer.

He always had a sense of adventure and wanted to be busy doing things and going places. He saw himself to be like a poem he kept in his study. It begins: “I’d rather be the ship that sails and rides the billows wild and free; than to be the ship that always fails to leave its port and go to sea.”

Marshall is survived by his loving partner and wife of 30 years, Sharon Heckaman; children, Deana (Jewel Lehman) Baker, Alan (Barbara) Heckaman, John David (Misti) Heckaman, Andria (Matt) Bradac, Clinton Frisch, and Brett (Manal) Frisch; his sister, Dorothy Anderson; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Marshall was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Matthew Ferraro; and his sisters, Jeanette Chidister and Berdine Asper.

Marshall’s love and loyalty were deeply felt by his family and friends. He was a courageous and honorable man who will be greatly missed.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Covenant United Methodist Church, 10001 Coldwater Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46825. A memorial gathering will be from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at the church. Private entombment will be at the Veterans’ National Memorial Shrine and Museum, 2122 O’Day Road, Fort Wayne, IN. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or to the Prostate Cancer Research Institute http://pcri.org

Arrangements entrusted to D.O. McComb and Sons, Pine Valley Park Funeral Home, 1320 East Dupont Road, Fort Wayne, IN.