Fannie E. S. Heck
Ове
off Carolina** noblest women, who de¬
voted her entire* life not merely to the* doin^
of one good deed daily, lint whose every
walking hour was spent in the* service off
humanity.
Til
К
Scriptures tell not only of
powerful Prophets, but also of
weighty women. There was the
Judith of the Apocrapha, who flew
the oppressor II olof ernes in his tenant,
so that the* tribes of Israel might live.
There was the fatuous Esther who
became Queen to Kins Aahasuerus
so that she might save her people. In
the days of the Apostle Peter there
lived Dorcas, so generous in her deeds,
so kindly in her almsgiving that when
she died the whole people mourned,
and widows crowded around showing
the garments which she had made.
And for this inspiring example, the
great “I Am" gave unto Peter the
power to bring Dorcas back to life
and restore her to her people.
In my subject we have one of Caro¬
lina’s noblest women, one who devoted
her entire life not merely to the doing
of one good deed daily, hut whose
every waking hour was spent in the
service of humanity.
Her father signed the Ordinance of
Secession in Virginia, and became a
Colonel in the Confederate service,
but in the defeat at Rich Mountain,
he was captured and paroled. This
prevented his further service to the
South on the field of battle, but it did
not prevent his service in the Vir¬
ginia legislature, nor did it deter him
from serving in the Quartermaster’s
Department and purchasing such sup¬
plies as were available for use by
I-ee's army.
Born in West Virginia
It was while the Colonel's family
was “ refugee! ng” in West Virginia
that his daughter Fannie K. S. Heck
was born. During the war the Colonel
К
rebated a plantation in Warren
unty, on which there was a Sulphur
Springs, much frequented by South¬
ern aristocracy.
The Hecks moved to Raleigh right
after the war, and in my boyhood days
any stranger visiting the city was al¬
ways sure to bo shown three of its
famous sights: the Tucker home on
Hillsboro Street : the Governor’s Man¬
sion on ltlount Street; and the Heck
home also on the same street, with the
filigree work and the Mansard roof
By 1C. C. LAWKEMF
of its era. Ami in its interior was to
he found such a store of silver, china
and portraits such as only the South¬
ern aristocracy possessed.
A Life of Genuine Service
Fannie K. S. Heck was born to the
purple, mid could have lived a life of
that case and luxury which tradition
has wedded to life on the large South¬
ern plantation of the antebellum pe¬
riod. Rut she sought no such refuge;
hcr's was a life of sacrificial service
from its l--gi lining until she died;
and my earliest recollections embody
the time when she was my Sunday-
school teacher at the First Baptist
Church in Raleigh. Later, when I
entered college at Wake Forest, throe
of her brothers were my schoolmates:
John M. (who died when but in his
•teens); the scholarly Dr. William
Harry Heck, Professor of Pedagogy
at the University of Virginia; and
the (then) youthful Prof. Charles
M. Heck, now the head of the De¬
partment of Physics at State College.
Miss 1 1 eek was educated under
llobgood at Oxford and at Hollins
College; but as soon as her schooldays
were over she cauic back to Raleigh
and began the work which established
her as foremost in the affections of the
womanhood of her city; as that of
John T. Pullen established him ns
first in the affections of its manhood.
Wo find her first serving in the
ranks as n Sunday-school teacher, but
her heart was that of a Livingstone;
she yearned to be both a foreign and
a home mis'ionary. She sought a
spiritual deliverance for a materially-
minded people; so she branched out
and organized a Missionary Society
in her own church. I referred awhile
ago to Dorcas, and her life fits that
of Miss Heck also, for Miss Fannie
was abundant in her charity, and gave
of her substance to those most in
need. She was one of the earliest presi¬
dents of the Raleigh Associated Char¬
ities.
When the College now known a»
Meredith was to Is* founded, naturally
there was (as there always is) u need
for money; and when O. L. String
field undertook to raise Cash from
the men: Miss Fannie sought to gather
together the resources of the women.
She rendered a signal service in that
behalf, a service which endures unto
this day.
As far back as 1886, she was named
President of the Woman’s Central
Missionary Committee for the Rap
list churches in North Carolina; ami
from that time forth -lie could say, as
did St. Paul : "This one thing I do."
And at the end she could also sav, a*
did Paul; “I have fought a good
fight.”
When the Womans Missionary
Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Rap
list Convention was organized in 1801.
Miss Fannie was named as Vice Pres¬
ident of the body for North Carolina.
At this time a North Carolina Baptist
Woman's Mixionary Society ul»o
was formed of which she was elected
President, and ill this capacity she
served until her death in 1915.
Still Other Activities
In 1892 she was elected as Presi¬
dent of the Woman’s Missionary
Union, auxiliary to the Southern Bap¬
tist Convention— IxTore she was thirty
years old ! On this field she waged her
life's battle; on it she won triumphant
victories; her monument in Oakwood
cemetery but miniatures her deeds.
She became the Editor of the Wom¬
an's Missionary Department of the
Foreign Mission Journal. This was
hut the beginning *»f a voluminous
missionary authorship conducted by
her through the volumes of tbe Itibh-
cal Recorder, Our Mission Fields.
leaflets, tracts, thousands of letters.
She was a royal author and she pro¬
duced a Missionary classic "On Royal
Service.” She became superintendent
of all literature issued hy the Baptist
womanhood of the South under the
auspices of its Convention.
Not content with this great service
to women, she also served the
спим:
of the Carolina youth: and in associa-
( Continued on page turenty-two)
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