Vada Irene Heidorn

Vada (Sandy) Bunch Heidorn, born in Trenton, Tennessee May 9, 1932, the daughter of James Madison and Viney Lou Hardin Bunch, died December 18, 2023, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She was the youngest of the 12 siblings on the farm and learned early on the value of hard work and family support. Somewhere along her early 20’s someone gave her the nickname Sandy and that is how everyone knew her except for the Tennessee people. She graduated from Peabody High in Trenton, Tennessee. To fulfill her dream of being self-supporting, she worked at the local grocery before school and picked cotton. She used the money she earned to get into the nursing program at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where she graduated as a RN in 1953. She lived at the hospital, taking classes during the day and working night shifts. She met Leo Heidorn on a blind date while working in Paducah, Kentucky and they married in 1954. They had two sons, Trent and Steve Heidorn, and four grandchildren, Samuel Trent, Alexander Trent, Amber Jean, and Anna Kathleen. She was Leo’s strongest supporter as they moved around the country following his career as an engineer, always setting up a home regardless of the location, with stints in Kentucky, Arizona, Colorado, Israel, Hawaii, and Washington State before retiring in Florida. Moving every two to three years, she easily found work as a nurse. And regardless of the location, she was known for her Southern hospitality and dinner parties. Grandkids in Oklahoma prompted them to move west, and they were quintessential grandparents. Having a strong sense of community, they were tireless volunteers. Sandy was a strong believer in blooming where you are planted. For those that knew her, the Israelis summed her up perfectly. They called her a sabra, a local fruit with a thick skin that conceals a sweet, softer interior. There was never a doubt where you stood with her nor if she would rally behind you if you needed help. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Leo, brothers (Claude, Arnold, Raymond, James, and Ezra), sisters (Cora Hudson, Elsie Atkinson, Ethel Joyce, Ocie Bunch, Avanell Bunch, and Jimmie Dee Schlender), and granddaughter Amber Jean Heidorn. Her ashes will be at First Presbyterian Church in Bartlesville next to Leo. Any memorial contributions could be directed to Cornerstone Hospice, 501 E. 5th St, Bartlesville, OK 74003 or a charity of your choice.

Vada Irene Heidorn

May 9, 1932 - December 18, 2023