SEVENTH GENERATION

585. Iva Marie Cory (Private).

Iva Marie Cory and Paul Edward Heitz had the following children:

+628 i. Sherry Ann Heitz.
629 ii. Cory James Heitz was born on 26 Dec 1974 in Monterey, Monterey Co, CA. He died on 13 Apr 1996 in Salinas, Monterey Co, CA. His funeral was The Paul Mortuary Chapel on 17 Apr 1996 in Pacific Grove, Monterey Co, CA.
He livied his entire life on the Monterey Peninsula. Everyone expected his mother, Iva, to give birth during Christmas dinner. He was an easy going kid, naturally very neat and fastidious. He enjoyed cooking and eating, fixing machinery and computer equipment. For a young person, Cory was responsible, trustworthy, kept an obligation, and knew the importance of family.

He was a very generous person. For example, while a child, he once took his mothers Christmas money and bought about a hundred dollars worth of candy and handed it out with $20 bills to all the kids.

He was graduated from Pacific Grove High School in 1994. As a high school student and afterwards as a college student, he was a drapery installer in his parents store, Paul's Drapery in Pacific Grove. An avid water sportsman, he enjoyed skiing, swimming, fishing, and jet-skiing. Active in the community, he helped with Sober Grad Night at Pacific Grove High School after he graduatedand was associated with several Kiwanis Club fund-raisers.

Cory loved to bike ride and Pete, his dog, loved to chase him or vis-a-versa. He also enjoyed 4-wheeling in his Jeep. His speciality was baking cheesecakes.

The following are notes that Cory wrote in College. These were found after his death and describe how he felt about certain things that were important in his life.

Donating:
If I had a spare part in my body that someone else needed I would be more than happy
to help out, especially it saved their life.

Love:
Love needs constant nurishment but hatred feeds on itself. Love is feeling of good and
happiness. Hatred is a feeling of evil and aggression. I believe that if you are loved
you will be nicer and more lovable person because you are more relaxed and like being
loved. If you stop being loved you want more attention and there are some people who are not lovable no matter what!

Water Skiing:
My favorite activity is water skiing. Its a rush of adrenaline when you are being pulled
behind a boat which feels like faster than you have ever gone before.

Education:
An education that you learn from is worth having. It is not very risky in Elementary
School, but we learned a lot while being there. In Middle School there was a little risk,
but in High School there was a lot of risk but we didn't learn as much
as we did in Elementary where we learned the basics in math, English, and art.

The Mind:
The mind is a thing that can be wasted with the easiest of ease. The worst way to
waste your mind is taking drugs. I have some friends that used to take drugs, they were
smart before they used drugs and now they are not that smart.The only smart thing they have done is stopped using drugs.

Holidays:
It means food, lots of it and a time when my family gets together into one large mob and grub down lots and lots of food.

In a letter to her brother, his sister Sherry describes their final lunch on the day of his
death:
Last Friday, up at McDonalds, you told me you finally had everything you wanted. Your
hot-rod, which is your jet-boat, your awesome 4 wheel drive Jeep, your Jet-Ski. I told
you that your Jet-Ski was like a bullet bike and your mountain bike was like your dirt
bike, but you said you Jet-Ski was really your dirt bike, because that's what you could
do spins and donuts on. Lucky you!

She goes on to say:
The other thing I want to say to you is that you are the most generous person I've ever
known. You always offered to give me anything I thought was really cool. And money!
I can't think of money without thinking of you. You could spot a $20 bill under the
wheel of a parked car. Could you smell it?

Cory died Saturday, 13-Apr-1996, at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital frommassive head injuries suffered in a single car auto accident that occured at 3:30 p.m. Friday on south-bound Highway 101 near Solidad, CA. He was on the way to Lake San Antonio with his dog, Pete, his best friend, John, and his new Jet-Ski.He had intended to teach John how to Jet-Ski. While driving on Highway 101 at Front Street he slamed on the breaks of his father's van for an unknown reason. The van fish-tailed accross the center divider, launched itself into the air, overturned, landing on the drivers side. The van came to rest up-right in the north-bound lanes. He suffered massive head injuries while John was only brused.

A group of firemen were following him when the accident occured and offered assistance. The 911 call was taken by his Aunt Linda Olmstead, the first wife of his Uncle Cecil Cory. He was air lifted to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital,where he underwent surgery to remove a skull fragment from his brain. After a day in intensive care, he was pronounced brain dead by the attending physicans.

Because of his belief in what he called "The Gift' of donating to save another's life, his organs were donated. California Transplant Donor Network informed the family that Cory's heart went to a 35-year-old Colorado man who is married and has a son. His liver went to a 58-year-old South Bay businessman who has two daughters. A kidney went to a 54-year-old New York man. His other kidney, two corneas and ten other tissues were also transplanted.

Memorial services were held on Wednesday, 17-Apr-1996 at 4 p.m. at the Paul Mortuary. Officiating was Rev. Joe Watt. Cremation was at the Little Chapel by-the-Sea, Pacific Grove, CA. The chapel was overflowing and two fire rigs stood vigil outside as a service full of prepared and spontaneous eulogies gave praise of a youth whose life started the third generation of a Pacific Grove family. Prepared eulogies were delivered by his sister Sherry, his Aunt Dorothy (Heitz) Proctor, his uncle Earl Cory, and his cousin Vibeke Cory for her mother. Impromptu eulogies were given by his cousans Henry and Chistopher Proctor and several friends. Music was provided by the Pacific Grove High School Jazz Combo.

A second memorial service was held on the following Memorial Day at Lake San Antono, where his parents scarttered his ashes on the lake.

The following is from "Beacon, Vol. 3, No. 3, April 12, 1996", a newspaper distributed in Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, and New Monterey, California. The paper is dated April 12, but reports events that happened on April 13.

A eulogy for Cory Heitz
by Rich Campbell

Surely, the ultimate gift of the universe is life. Yet it is a fragile commodity. Our club was rocked by the news, late Friday, of the terrible accident that took the life, the next day, of Cory Heitz. In the middle of last minute preparations for the Pancake Breakfast, we were reminded how uncertain and vulnerable our lives really are.

The Heitz family is our family. We have shared years of community service, good times, and now twice, loss with them.

Many of our members watched Cory and Sherry grow up. Clearly, the honest, sense of community, hard work and joy that Paul and Iva embrace in their lives were passed down to their children.

We will miss the one, yet we'll always feel his presense when we are with the rest.

There are two funds that have been se up. One is to help pay the bills. The other is a memorial scholarship fund.

Contributions can be made in care of PG Kiwanis. Even in tragedy there is somejoy, as it was announced at the Memorial Service on Wednesday afternoon that Larry had found Cory's dog Pete, who had been missing from the scene for threedays, and brought him home.

Cory Heitz's dog, Pete was the subject of local television's evening news following his master's death in a car accident on April 13. Cory's sleeping bag was placed at the scene of the accident with hope that Pete would return. The dog repeatedly returned to (the) scene of accident, refusing to leave until Cory's father, Paul Heitz, managed to cox him to come home following a two-day vigil at the scene.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009