Henry J. Young Award - Leonard Heilman, June 2011

​​Leonard A Heilman, better known as Len was born in Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1938, son of the late Albert C Heilman and the late Virginia L. (Fry) Heilman, and brother of Rodney L Heilman of Goldsboro, Pennsylvania. 
Len was a member of Tuckahoe Lodge 386, Order of the Arrow. He was one of three scouts in Mount Wolf Troop #31 to become an Eagle Scout. He also received the Pro Deo Et Patria award by the Lutheran Committee on Scouting.
Len received his associate degree in business administration at York Junior College, a bachelors in education, and a Master’s in Library Science at Millersville University. Len did graduate work in Library Science at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and at Syracuse University in New York. 

Len was a member of: Northeastern Jaycees, Eagle Fire Co #1 of Mount Wolf, Local, State, and National Education Associations. He was a Charter Member of SCPGS and served on the Board of Directors as Director of Publications for 20 years. Len was a volunteer in the Research Library of the Historical Society of York County, now The York County Heritage Trust.

Some of the ancestral families are: Aughenbaugh, Becher, Dellinger, Ensminger, Fink, Frey, Graff, Hake, Heilman, Jacoby, Kern, Marcks, Naylor, Neiman, Opp, Riley, Sower, Strausbaugh, Texter, Wantz, Winebrenner, and Wolf.
When Alfreda Patton (now Davidson) resigned as the newsletter editor, Len was appointed by the President as the editor, and became Director of Publications in April 1976. At the February 1977 board meeting Len suggested the society needs to do something at attract more members. 

In June 1977, he suggested to shorten the newsletter pages, and possibly do a publication several times a year. With this suggestion the Special Publications came in to existence. In the beginning publications were done on stencils, printed, collated, and mailed by the society to save some money. There was a committee for this job, which later was printed by a printer.

Len continued to do the newsletter. After a couple of months, he asked me if I would proof the stencils and help him in the summer to collect material for future publications. At first Len and I put out four publications a year. As the publications got larger, we changed to two a year. The society continued to collate and mail the newsletters and Special Publications. If I’m not mistaken we may now have exhausted the material that we collected for the Special Publication.
After 35 years, Len retired from Northeastern Senior High School as librarian in June 1996. Prior to his retiring Len built a new summer home in Fenwick, Maryland. Sadly he had never had a chance to really enjoy his summer home. His mother very much enjoyed the home until her death. 

I was doing the newsletters most of the beginning of 1996, as Len’s health began to deteriorate. At this time he was unable to actively work on the Special Publications. Len passed away at noon on November 2, 1996 at his home at the young age of 57 years.

​The SCPGS and York County family research are indebted to Len Heilman for his many contributions to local genealogy. Len is sadly missed by his family and friends, including me as Len was more like a brother to me than a friend.