Obituaries

In addition to his wife, of Washington, survivors include a sister.

-- Matt Schudel

Richard H. HeidermannFHA Official

Richard H. Heidermann, 78, a former official with the Federal Housing Administration, died Aug. 31 of congestive heart failure at Mount Carmel Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Burlington, Wis., where he had lived for the past year. He was a former Washington resident.

Mr. Heidermann arrived in Washington in 1958 as an assistant to Rep. Gerald T. Flynn (D-Wis.). He later worked as a lawyer with the housing division of the Air Force and as a lawyer and administrator with FHA.

He retired and moved to Tampa in 1982.

Mr. Heidermann was born in Burlington and graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He graduated from Marquette's law school in 1952, served in the Army for two years and practiced law in Burlington from 1954 to 1958.

He enjoyed stamp collecting, art, theater, history and steam locomotives.

He leaves no immediate survivors.

-- Matt Schudel

Thomas Brown HieberTreasury Officer

Thomas Brown Hieber, 93, a former branch chief with the Treasury Department, died Aug. 15 of stroke-induced dementia at Capital Hospice in Arlington. He lived in Greenbelt.

Mr. Hieber settled in Washington in 1940 and worked briefly with the Department of Agriculture before joining the Treasury Department. He retired in 1973.

Mr. Hieber was born in Pittsburgh. One of seven children, he was orphaned when he was 9. He and three siblings were sent to an orphanage near York, Pa., a younger sister was adopted and two older brothers were left to fend for themselves.

When he was a junior in high school, Mr. Hieber came to Washington to live with an older brother and graduated in 1933 from the old Central High School.

He then returned to Pittsburgh, where he managed ice cream stores and attended business school.

Except for short periods in the 1950s when he was transferred to Colorado and Georgia, he had lived in Greenbelt since 1942.

At age 50, Mr. Hieber took up golf and scored holes-in-one when he was 66 and 77.

He was a member of the Lions Club and enjoyed playing Santa Claus at the group's holiday fundraisers.

His wife of 58 years, Mildred R. Hieber, died in 1999. A son, Thomas W. Hieber, died in 2001.

Survivors include three children, Marion L. Vaughn of Halethorpe, Md., Janet E. Hieber of Greenbelt and James C. Hieber of Springfield; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

-- Matt Schudel

Ruth Ann S. JohnsonPhone Operator, Volunteer

Ruth Ann Selig Johnson, 73, an AT&T phone operator in Washington in the 1980s and early 1990s who did volunteer work for the American Red Cross and Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, died Sept. 7 at Inova Fairfax Hospital after choking on food.

Mrs. Johnson, a Burke resident, was born in Fort Smith, Ark. She married in 1957 and worked for the phone company while accompanying her husband on his military assignments. They settled in the Washington area in the early 1980s.

She was a member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield.

Survivors include her husband, retired Army Col. Alex J. Johnson of Burke; four children, Mark Johnson of Manassas, Cynthia Garlick of Burke, Laurie Johnson-Kahn of Miami and Susan Weston of Gainesville, Va.; and five grandchildren.

-- Adam Bernstein