Pauline G. Hearne

During a conversation in her eighties, Pauline Hearne reminisced that she had been disappointed briefly in the gift she got for her 16th birthday. She wanted a car. Her parents instead gave her a grand piano.

The gift turned out to be a blessing – not only for the teenager, but for the whole Poplar Bluff area.

After a lifetime of filling the world around her with music, Pauline Gray Hearne died Saturday, June 29, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. She was 100 years old.

Anytime Pauline and a piano were in the same room, beautiful music resulted.

A graduate of the famed Juilliard School of music in New York, Mrs. Hearne could render complicated classical pieces but also could play popular tunes “by ear” and had an operatic singing voice. She played and sang for countless church services, weddings, funerals and recitals and taught music to many budding musicians in Poplar Bluff.

Mrs. Hearne was born Feb. 10, 1919, in St. Louis, to Nellie Celeste and Joseph Sidney Gray, of Poplar Bluff. She was married to Poplar Bluff attorney Frank Thompson Hearne on July 9, 1946.

During Mrs. Hearne’s century of life, the nation saw transportation go from the Model T Ford to jet travel and a manned mission to the moon. Communications went from the first rotary-dial telephone in 1919 to the Apple iPhone, Facebook and Twitter. Women got the right to vote when Mrs. Hearne was a year old. Other milestones during her century included the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 2001 terrorist attack on New York City and the elections of 16 presidents starting with Warren G. Harding and ending with Donald J. Trump.

But Pauline Hearne was not one to simply watch history go by. She set a high standard for community involvement and support.

Named 1998 Citizen of the Year by the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce, her list of offices and organizations was long:

* Treasurer of the Citizens Betterment Campaign (1995) to extend the city’s half-cent sales tax for capital improvements to the library, park department facilities and other projects.

* Chair of the Founders Bridge project (1995), which raised money to build the footbridge over Black River linking downtown with Ray Clinton Park.

* Member, Board of Trustees of the Poplar Bluff Public Library (1986-1995), where she was the spark plug for forming the Friends of the Library fund raising group.

* Member, Steering Committee for Downtown Revitalization (1989).

* Board member, Community Development Corp.

* Board member, local American Red Cross chapter (1967-1987).

* Director of the Chancel Choir of First Christian Church (1951-1978).

* Board member, Edgewood Children’s Home.

* Member, Fine Arts Club (1940s) and a founding member of the Civic Music Association, which sponsored concerts by visiting professional musicians.

* Member, Daughters of the American Revolution.

* Member, Friends of the Margaret Harwell Art Museum.

Mrs. Hearne also was active for decades in Christian Women’s Fellowship, Monday Literary Club and Chapter DG of P.E.O., a women’s philanthropic and educational organization.

Mrs. Hearne spent her childhood and adult life in the Kinzer Street house that belonged to her parents. She moved to Cedargate assisted living facility about six years ago but retained ownership of the family home. Even as her memory began failing, she entertained fellow Cedargate residents by playing their favorite tunes on the social-room piano.

She was a graduate of Poplar Bluff High School, for which she wrote the alma mater anthem. She was graduated from Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Mo., and earned a master’s degree from Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

Mrs. Hearne then returned to Poplar Bluff. After teaching for two years in Williamsville, she taught English and supervised and taught the music program for Poplar Bluff schools for 11 years (1943 to 1954).

Mrs. Hearne was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

She is survived by a daughter, Nell Celeste (Michael) Pritchett, of Poplar Bluff; three granddaughters, Polly (Brad) Johnson, Olivia (Josh) Love and Annie (Tim) Brumitt, all of Poplar Bluff; eight great-grandchildren, Christian Pritchett, Gabby Johnson, Gracie Johnson, Ava Love, Bennett Love, Blake Love, Mason Brumitt and Emma Kate Brumitt.

Family visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, July 8, at First Christian Church in Poplar Bluff. A funeral service will start at 1 p.m. at the church. Burial will follow at Poplar Bluff City Cemetery, arrangements courtesy of Cotrell Funeral Service.

The family suggests memorial donations to the First Christian Church Memorial Fund, 1601 N. Main St., Poplar Bluff, 63901, or to Haven House, PO Box 4875, Poplar Bluff, 63902.