Theodore A. Heun, a retired Baltimore County high school history teacher who was a witness to the shootings of students at Kent State University in 1970, died June 5 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, at his Ellicott City home. He was 69.
Mr. Heun, the son of German immigrants, was born in Baltimore and raised in Oliver Beach.
After graduating from Kenwood High School in 1959, he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1963 from what is now Towson University.
He began his teaching career in 1964 at Glen Burnie High School and the next year joined the faculty of Southern High School.
While a graduate student at Kent State, Mr. Heun met Judith Noble, who was assistant director of student activities at the university. They married in 1970.
Mr. Heun was present on May 4, 1970, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed anti-war demonstrators protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Four were killed and nine wounded.
"He was on campus [the day of the shooting] and saw the National Guard troops marching. He saw them fire their weapons," said his son, Christopher T. Heun of Lansdowne. "But he was more concerned about getting to my mother, who was on the opposite side of the campus, in the Student Activities Office where she worked. That building was next to the journalism building, where the students began their protest, so he had to take a circuitous route around the demonstration to get to where my mother was."
On each anniversary of the Kent State shootings, Mr. Heun related to his students his memories and feelings of what he had witnessed that day, and also brought in additional speakers to discuss the event.
"In 1990, Dad came into my 11th-grade Advanced Placement U.S. history class at Catonsville High School and talked about that day," his son recalled. "I remember that he described the guardsmen marching all the way across an empty athletic field, not stopping until they came to a chain link fence, and then stopping and waiting for a few minutes," he said.
"It seemed bizarre to him. He couldn't understand why they would do that. And then the realization afterward they had shot and killed their neighbors, fellow Ohioans, people who were much like them. These were Americans shooting Americans," the son said. "He just couldn't believe it."
Mr. Heun began teaching in Baltimore County public schools in 1970. He taught at Lansdowne High School, Woodlawn High, Old Court Middle, Kenwood High and Loch Raven High, from which he retired in 2004.
Mr. Heun had served as chairman of the social studies department at Old Court and established the International Baccalaureate program at Kenwood.
He was a stalwart in the U.S. History Advanced Placement course at Loch Raven, which earned him the nickname of "Professor," family members said.
Ken Walton, who was a music teacher and band director, was a friend of more than 30 years and met Mr. Heun when both were on the faculty at Lansdowne.
"Once a year, I'd be a guest lecturer in his A.P. class, and we would discuss nationalism in music and listen to the '1812 Overture.' He approached the teaching of history from different angles and viewpoints," Mr. Walton said. "It wasn't memorizing names and dates. He'd take them to the Holocaust Museum in Washington and the National Gallery of Art. He was interested in the historical culture, not just a bunch of facts," he said.
"Ted was a very classy guy. If you walked passed his classroom in the late afternoon, he'd be there working while listening to WBJC, the classical music station," he said.
Julie Somers, assistant principal at Pikesville Middle School, taught with Mr. Heun at Loch Raven.
"We co-taught history," Ms. Somers said. "The thing I remember about Ted is that we co-taught for a year, but he had been my mentor for seven years. He had a gentleness and courtliness about him that resonated with students."
Ms. Somers recalled that he "held students to high standards" and got them to do "critical thinking and interpretation by using original documents. Not just memorizing facts."
"They would come back after college to tell him that they attributed their success to him," Ms. Somers said.
Mr. Heun never sat at a desk and preferred to stand when conducting a class.
"He loved teaching and did it for 40 years, until his legs gave out," Mrs. Heun said.
In addition to his work with Baltimore County schools, Mr. Heun had been an adjunct faculty member at Catonsville Community College.
Mr. Heun had been a Little League coach and a leader of Boy Scout Troop 306.
After retiring, Mr. Heun worked as the first Hunger Action Enabler for the Presbytery of Baltimore and established a Cents-Ability program that asked donors to give 5 cents at every meal.
He also coordinating fundraising at local churches for food pantries and soup kitchens.
Mr. Heun enjoyed attending Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concerts and was an avid Orioles fan.
He was an active member and an elder at Catonsville Presbyterian Church, 1400 Frederick Road, where a memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. June 19.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Heun is survived by his daughter, Emily Heun Pate of Lansdowne, and a granddaughter.