Alice Jean Heuck Goldfarb, 74, went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, June 18, 2017, at her home in Columbia after a battle with pancreatic cancer. 

She was born May 15, 1943, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Hubert William and Martha (Gerstle) Heuck.  Alice spent many happy years in Cincinnati and at the Heuck’s summer cottage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, graduation from Hughes High School, Cincinnati in 1961.  She earned a BS in Education and a Masters in Elementary Counseling from Indiana University in Bloomington.  But, (in Alice’s words,) more exciting than receiving her degrees was meeting her husband to be in the Indiana Physical Education Library on October 15, 1962.  Joe and Alice were married on August 30, 1964, in Cincinnati and began the adventure God had planned for them.

In August of 1965, the happy couple moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Joe accepted a position at the University of Missouri; and Alice was hired as one of the first two white teachers at Douglas Elementary School.  During her thirty year career in education, she taught in all eighteen of Columbia’s elementary schools.  The last six years she was the Elementary Career Counselor for the District of Columbia.  Many of her students will remember lessons based partly on her vast, whimsical earring collection.  Her passion for teaching and creativity in the classroom earned her the prestigious Emeritus Retired Teacher of the Year award in March 2017.  During her teaching career, Alice was also a representative for two thriving businesses, Mary Kay cosmetics (8 years) and Juice Plus (19 years).  She was active in her church, teaching Sunday school and participating in prison ministry; and helped organize and teach cross-denominational Bible studies all over Columbia.  Her family, especially her 4 year old grand-daughter, Peyton; enjoying God’s presence; teaching Bible studies; and friendships which spanned decades, brought Alice joy in her life.  To the end, Alice’s life reflected her strong faith as she extended care, love, compassion and generosity of spirit toward others.  She will be greatly missed.

Left to cherish her memory are her devoted husband of 53 years, Joseph Michael; her sons, Rodney Eric of Los Angeles, CA and Joshua Paul (Kim) of  Huntington Beach, CA; one grandchild, Peyton Grace; her mother-in-law, Shirley Goldfarb (an active 97 year old) of Indianapolis, IN; her brothers, Oran (Joan) Heuck of Greenville, SC and Roger (Rho) Heuck of Cincinnati, OH; her sister-in-law, Elaine Rubenstein of Indianapolis, IN; her brother-in-law, Benjamin (Deb) Goldfarb of Indianapolis, IN; and many cousins and friends.  Alice also is leaving behind her “adopted” Brazilian family, Cesar and Magda Mello and adult daughters, Nathalia, Nicole, and Bianca; and as well as Anthony Genovese, her adopted “son in the faith.”

A visitation will be held Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Christian Fellowship Church, 4600 Christian Fellowship Rd, Columbia, MO followed by a Celebration of Life Service at 6:00 p.m.  Interment will be at Cedarville Cemetery in Cedarville, MI later this summer.

 Service Information