Obituary of Douglas Brown Heinlen

Douglas Brown Heinlen died January 19 in St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor. A green burial has taken place at Marble Park Cemetery, Milan. He was born March 3, 1939, in McCamey, Texas, to Wallace Meyer Heinlen and Evelyn (Smith) Heinlen. The family moved to Toledo where Douglas attended local schools and received his B.S. from the University of Toledo. Douglas married Dorothy Margaret Rowland April 13, 1968. They made their home in Dundee where Douglas taught physics, geometry, and advanced mathematics at Dundee High School. He also began the school’s computer program, designing the lab and bringing computers to Dundee schools in the early 1980s. Douglas was a renaissance man. He taught himself plumbing, electricity, and woodworking so he could lovingly restore his Greek Revival home, an 11-year effort with only one electrical fire in the 48 years he lived there. Douglas served on the Dundee Village Council and was a member of the Historical Preservation Society of Dundee (Old Mill). Dundee history became his passion. He enhanced photos for the Old Mill Museum maintaining supplemental archives. In 2017, the Old Mill’s Ford Room was renamed in his honor. He is survived by his wife Dorothy (Meg) and daughters, Elizabeth Heinlen (Michael Morrone) of Ellicott City, Maryland and Laura Cauthen, MD of Kennesaw, Georgia, and his sisters Laura Ordorica of Toledo, OH and Ginny Pugh (George) of White House, OH as well as his loving grandchildren Ezra Melchor, Clara Cauthen, and Benjamin Cauthen and numerous nephews and nieces. He is preceded in death by his father Wallace Heinlen in 1983 and his mother Evelyn Heinlen in 2016. A memorial service will be held March 3 in the Old Mill Museum, 242 Toledo St., Dundee, at 6 p.m. Those wishing to make a contribution in his memory are urged to contribute to the Old Mill Museum or the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Service arrangements were handled by the Cover Funeral Home in Dundee. Online condolences may be made at www.coverfuneralhome.com.