Dee Dee Heffner

New Mexico

Dee Dee Heffner is a Home Missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church serving at the McCurdy School, which is located in the Espanola Valley region of northern New Mexico. Dee Dee has been a teacher at McCurdy since 1975.

"I teach English (including Advanced Placement classes), speech and drama at McCurdy High School," she explains. "Our student body is diverse in many ways, including ethnically (80% Hispanic, 8% Tewa-speaking Pueblo [Native American], 12% Anglo). For quite a few of our students, they are the only ones in their families not using heroin (our county has the highest death rate in the U.S. for heroin-related overdoses). In addition, there is a good deal of violence and there are many gangs in community." In light of these circumstances, Dee Dee says, "What a joy to offer a challenging curriculum and Gods peace as well as peace-making skills to our students!"

As a drama teacher, Dee Dee directs several plays a year, allowing students the opportunity to explore gifts other than scholarship. "Although McCurdy School no longer has a boarding program, we do provide a strong Christian family environment, and, for some young people, we are the most cohesive and stable force in their lives. In the McCurdy graduating class of 2005, three of our 30 graduates had lost parents and grandparents to tragedy early in their lives. McCurdy's nurturing and challenging has made it possible for all of them to do well and go on to college."

Dee Dee is the daughter and daughter-in-law of retired UM pastors. Like many other young people, it was at a church camp that she first heard Gods call to mission service. Currently, she is in her second quadrennium as a member of the Committee on Deaconess Service.

Originally a member of the West Ohio Conference, Dee Dee is a graduate of Otterbein College in Westerville, OH, and has master's degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, and St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM. Before she came to McCurdy, Dee Dee was a librarian at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.

Dee Dee is married to the Rev. Dr. Dennis Heffner, a home missionary who is Executive Director of the Northern New Mexico Group Ministry and the pastor of Valley View UMC in Espaola. Dee Dee and Dennis have three grown children: Todd, Heidi, and Andrew, all of whom are McCurdy alumni. Dee Dee and Dennis are the grandparents to two grandsons, Nathaniel and Hayden.

Missionary code: 581325
E-Mail: heffner@la-tierra.com