Barbara Heaney

Barbara Page Heaney, age 90, died peacefully on June 5, 2020 at her retirement home in Madison, Wisconsin. She was preceded in death by her husband Donald Heaney in 2012.

Barbara was born on August 10, 1929, the only child of Louis N. Page and Jesse (Hadfield) Page in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father ran a grocery store, worked for the Union Pacific railroad and was a celebrated chess master for 37 years. Her mother was a suffragette, a school teacher and an uncommonly outspoken among Salt Lake women. Although Barbara and the Page family faced struggles with the Great Depression in the 1930s, strong family ties and resourcefulness of handcart pioneer forbears helped them persevere and thrive during those trying times.

Although stricken with polio during her childhood, Barbara excelled scholastically. She was the valedictorian of her Salt Lake City West High School graduating class in 1947. While in high school, Barbara cultivated skills in debate, journalism, and speech receiving awards in numerous scholastic competitions. She went on to earn her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Utah with high honors. She subsequently enrolled in the University of Utah Law School where she graduated first in her class in 1954. She was the 35th woman to graduate from the that law school. Barbara then relocated to Madison WI where she earned her doctorate in Law and met her future husband Donald Lee Heaney, then a law student. Donald was also a gifted and enthusiastic student of law, graduating second in his law school class and later earning his own law doctorate.

Barbara and Donald, both budding legal superstars, were married in June of 1957, making the family home first in Madison, then in Monona and finally in Middleton. They had 4 children, Mike, Tom (Gail Banovez), Ann, Robert (Kelli Flick). Barbara was a devoted and supportive mother who instilled an achievement ethic in her children. Raising her four children presented many teachable moments.  Barbara would bring each lesson to life, often with an obscure vocabulary usage or a Benjamin Franklin quote. She provided constant encouragement to her children as well as occasional fierce advocacy when necessitated by misbehaving kids or bureaucratic incompetence.

While Barbara was certainly a devoted parent, she simultaneously carved out an accomplished legal career. Barbara became an insurance law expert while pursuing her doctorate at UW Madison. Employment opportunities for female lawyers in Madison in the late 1950s were few and far between. Fortunately, Barbara found an ideal position as attorney with the Legislative Council for the Insurance Laws Revision Committee of the state legislature in the Capitol building. She was a significant contributor to the revision of the Wisconsin Insurance code in the 1960s and 1970s. Later, Barbara went on to become the editor of the Journal of Insurance Regulation. She also served as adjunct Law Professor at the UW Madison Law School. Family, especially in Wisconsin, were impressed that former Packer receiver James Lofton was a student in Barbara’s insurance law class.

Over the years Barbara cultivated many interests including politics, history, voracious reading of murder mystery novels, horticulture, sewing, rug weaving, and classical music. Her interest in current events and politics remained into her later years even as she suffered from progressing dementia. Also persevering was her irreverent sense of humor even in the face of adversity. She is remembered not only as the daughter of pioneers, but as a real pioneering woman in her own right.

The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff at UW-Health and Oakwood Village for their conscientious care of Barbara during her final years residing at Tabor, Covenant, and Hebron. We are also thankful for the dedicated service provided by Home Instead and Senior Helpers, both of whom helped her maintain a degree of independence and brought her joy in her final years.

In lieu of sending flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the University of Wisconsin Law School or the SJ Quinney School of Law, University of Utah

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road Madison. A visitation will begin at 10 a.m. until the time of service.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service

3610 Speedway Road  Madison

(608) 238-3434