Roping for a cure
By ALLAN TINKER
*Information courtesy Janet Heinle and Jim and Nancy Crimmins, condensed The loss of a child, even though grown but still young, is a parent’s worst grief. Through the loss of son, brother and uncle, children and their parents are part of the memorial to a life well lived, though limited by Type I diabetes and its complications.
The story of Kevin Heinle is recorded and marked for history by his mother, family and those who attended the First Annual Kevin Heinle Memorial “Roping for a Cure.” Kevin’s mother Jan Heinle stated,“It is hard to compress a person’s life into a few words but I’ll try.
“Kevin was born to Armin and Janet Heinle and has two sisters, Lynda Crimmins and Kelly (Crimmins) Bren, and two brothers Mike (Stacy) and Jim (Nancy) Crimmins. “He never had any children of his own but children were always drawn to him. He had many interests in life; top of the list was horses. He trained an adopted BLM horse, his beloved Cork, so well that when they were having a wild horse adoption the organizers had him give a demonstration with her.
“After he graduated from high school, he went to saddle making school and into leather repair. His other interest was roping, which led into raising Longhorn cattle. “Then he started welding and that soon turned into both an occupation and a hobby.
“As his hobby, he liked welding together horseshoes for unique household items such as coat hooks and picture frames. He was always inventing something new to make.
“One of his last projects was to make things to be auctioned off at the benefit for Laura Kulsrud’s boys.
“With his love of kids and roping, it was a natural to put the two together for a memorial event and to raise awareness of Type I diabetes, Jan concluded.
Heinle was a lifelong resident of the McClusky area, born April 28, 1974. He died September 19, 2012, at the age of 38. He grew up on the family farm south of McClusky and graduated from the McClusky High School in 1992.
