PAUL HEIMAN: IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS COME TRUE and under saddle. And that was only in 2006. Today, four years later, Heiman’s horses have won many more national titles, regional and class A championships, all in performance. More remarkably, Heiman, now 83, has usually been on the lines or in the saddle!
profoundly affected when they learned that their friend, ally and tireless supporter would no longer be there to champion their causes.
Joyce was an active Region 14 member, well-known and highly esteemed for her support of regional youth programs and Camp Jabez. A Buckeye charity From the moment we turn since its inception, Camp into the farm’s well kept, Jabez is the ministry stone-pillared entrance Joyce and Paul Heiman celebrated their 60th Anniversary at the 2009 Region 13 Show. Chuck and Luann Siemon on this sunny, unseasonably started for at-risk children. warm day, the place begins Most people who knew Joyce Heiman also knew that to work its magic. We press the button on the call box, from the day of their first horse show, she unstintingly identify ourselves, a male voice welcomes us, and the iron supported her husband’s favorite pastime. She loved gates slide back. We head down the long road, noticing him, she loved Arabian horses, and she made enduring the miles of board fencing, healthy maple trees every 250 friendships at every show. She was always on the rail when feet, and the fields of fat, green soy beans planted on either Paul was in the ring. side. A small lake to the right glitters with sunlight and blue sky. No cattails here. “Her death has been a tremendous blow for everyone who knew her,” Ohio Buckeye Sweepstakes Manager Cindy This is Valley Hei Arabians, the home Paul and Joyce Clinton says. “She touched so many lives.” The 2010 Ohio Heiman dreamed of, built for themselves and moved into Buckeye Sweepstakes was dedicated to Joyce Heiman. in 1986 to better enjoy life with their Arabian horses. For almost a quarter-century the couple lived here in quiet The couple had three sons: Harry, 52; Mark, 56; and contentment, enfolded by a stillness broken only by bird Gary, now 59. Each of them inherited the entrepreneurial and insect sounds, and the occasional whinny. Heiman spirit with their individual gifts, but Gary was the one most willing to take risks. He opened a plant for On the farm are countless reminders of their hope-fi lled, the family’s company, Standard Textile, in China five mostly joyous life together. They were inseparable from years ago, and earlier, developed manufacturing operations the beginning, and in 1985, they added Arabian horses in Israel, Pakistan and the Philippines. He also moved the to their journey together. When Joyce, Paul’s wife of 61 company out of its middle man position; today Standard years, died in January 2010, their dream faded away. She Textile Co. manufactures its own products. By eliminating was his only love, his partner in life, and most ardent fan. their middle role, the business, now worldwide, continues “We met when a friend of my sister’s was having a New to provide its clients with high quality products at the Year’s Eve party, and arranged a blind date for Joyce and reasonable prices their self-sufficiency creates. me,” Heiman says. “She was 15 and I was 18.” He raises his eyes, looking at a place far back in time, remembering Heiman senior still goes to the office one or two days that night. “I fell in love with her the moment I saw her.” a week “ just to look at balance sheets and talk with the employees,” he assures us as we sit at the kitchen table, Joyce Heiman’s death fi lled many hearts with grief: enjoying the hot tea and cinnamon rolls he has graciously she had made dozens, and more likely, hundreds of served. He looks out the window at the dense, oldfriends during her more than 25 years in the Arabian growth woods bordering the property behind the house. horse community. Ohio’s Arabian horse people were
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