Heather Ann Campbell
1959-1984

Heather was a vibrant, talented woman who cared about and for the helpless whenever and wherever she found them. The daughter of Pierce and Beverly Campbell, she was equally comfortable and at home with senators, superstar athletes, and disabled children, and she had frequent occasion to associate with all three through her mother’s projects.

Heather was gifted in the literary arts. She also expressed talent in other art forms such as oil and watercolor painting, photography, interior design and decorating, and ballet.

While a college student, she worked with her father in raising money for grinding mills and other needed tools for starving people of Africa. The work she began has continued under the Heather Campbell Foundation. The work is primarily in Zimbabwe. Wells have been drilled, scholarships granted, seeds purchased, and a dam built.

Heather’s former boss, a member of the United States House of Representatives, paid her this tribute: “Heather taught me much about optimism, family values and spiritual ideals….If a person’s value in this world could be measured by their concern for others, then Heather’s value was, and remains, at the highest index of that measure.”

We are grateful to Beverly Campbell for sponsoring Segullah’s essay contest in Heather’s name. In an interview published in Segullah’s debut issue, Sister Campbell related:

“I chose to name the prize after my beloved daughter Heather, who was taken from us in an accident some years ago. She was a student of journalism. She hoped to use that forum to address many of the same issues she had seen me address, as well as those that were unique to her generation. Through your voices you can make her live. I also have a granddaughter named Heather, and I hope each of you who writes for Segullah will add to her strength, her voice, her vision, and her testimony.”