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KALAMAZOO, MI Carol Heflin will be remembered as someone who was an ardent supporter of women, for helping those less fortunate and as someone who never shied from standing up for causes she believed in.

The former chair of the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party, Heflin died at the age of 67 on Tuesday, March 15, just three weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, her family and friends confirmed earlier this week.

Heflins husband of 30 years, David Heflin, preceded her in death after succumbing to early onset Alzheimers disease in January 2021.

Carol was just a furiously strong and ardent advocate for women, said Michelle Zukowski-Serlin, a friend of Heflins for 35 years.

She worked alongside Heflin on numerous causes such as supporting Medicaid-funded abortion, making marital rape illegal and participating in organizations like the National Organization of Women (NOW) and events such as the Kalamazoo Area Womens Festival.

Whatever she believed in, she put her whole self into, Zukowski-Serlin said. Whether it was feeding the homeless in Bronson Park, taking people into their home when they were in need, fighting for human rights. Carol was there and she didnt have to be asked. She was always fighting for people.

Heflin, who is survived by six children, was involved in numerous political campaigns throughout her life and met her first husband while attending an anti-war rally in the 1970s when she was in her late teens, her daughter Lynneea Brown told MLive.

Growing up, it didnt take long before Brown, now 35, realized her mother was different from most other moms.

One of the first tell-tale signs, Brown said, was when she was just 5, and her mother pulled her out of school to meet President Bill Clinton. That same year, Brown also recalls standing on the steps of Kalamazoo City Hall alongside current city commissioner Don Cooney, carrying a sign for living wages.

Nobody elses kids were out knocking on doors, handing out flyers, Brown said. She was born politically active, something she got from my grandmother, and now she has six kids and 21 grandkids who are doing or going to be doing the same thing.

Heflin worked on national, statewide and local campaigns. They included, among many others, those of former attorney general candidate Amos Williams, former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former state Rep. Ed LaForge.

Its hard to remember all the things she was involved with, said LaForges widow, Ann LaForge, one of Heflins closest friends and a former business partner. She was never too busy or had so much on her plate that she would not reach out and help someone who needed it.

Heflin and Ann LaForges friendship began when the two worked together at a small community newspaper east of Kalamazoo. At the time the paper folded, they had been working on a project focused on the rise of women-owned businesses.

LaForge recalls Heflin asking their boss if the two could take the work they had done with them and use it for another project. That project became known as WomaNet, a publication the two produced for a few years in the mid-late 90s that served as a directory for women-led businesses and organizations in Southwest Michigan, as well as a community resource guide for women in need of crisis intervention or who may be experiencing domestic violence.

Her passion for helping those in need did not stop with her political voice, or the publication.

She had a much expanded version of what family is, said her son, Shawn Malone, 45. It wasnt just blood. Anybody who was down on their luck, in a marginalized community. She was the first person to bring them into the family. Growing up, I cant think of an Easter or Thanksgiving where there wasnt somebody who was there that we didnt know.

At one point, we had a young woman living with us with her child, who had been been abused by her boyfriend. She stayed with us a few months until mom was able to help her get on her feet. Thats just who she was. She was all about How can we really make a difference in peoples lives every day?

That commitment carried over to catering meals for the homeless, both when there was an encampment at Bronson Park in 2018, and for months afterward when the encampment was no longer visible, said her friend Cheri Bell, an Oshtemo Township trustee.

Without fanfare, she reached out to congregations and people she knew cared about that issue, organized, cooked and delivered meals for weeks for the people in Bronson Park, Bell said. The issue of whether or not that was an appropriate place for the encampment, what did it mean for the city, none of that mattered.

Her care and concern was about the individuals suffering on the ground, and that is where she came from as a human being.

That care is what also led Carol and David Heflin to open their Dowagiac restaurant Foodies Fresh Caf that they owned and operated for about seven years on holidays and prepare free meals for community members in need, Brown said. Her mother would also routinely hire people who were in the early stages of recovery and try to help them up.

Champions and heroes sometimes are the people doing the work that you dont see, Bell said. And Carol Heflin, while sometimes she had a more public persona than others, she was always doing the work to lift up people in need whether she was out front or not.

A memorial service for Heflin will be held at 11 a.m. May 21 at the band shell in Portage.

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Kalamazoo County Democrat Carol Heflin remembered as advocate for women, those less fortunate - MLive.com