The Last of Our Heydeckers

RICHARD CREAGH HEYDECKER was born on June 30, 1933 in New York City. He was the son of the late Claire (Enright) and William Creagh Heydecker Jr., and the grandnephew of Richard Enright, police commissioner of New York City. Richard traveled to many countries during school leaves, including most of Europe, Mexico, and Cuba. After graduation from private school, he began studying at Columbia College where he also excelled on the varsity track team.

During the Korean War, he left Columbia to enter the army. He served two years in the Army Corps of Engineers. Upon his honorable discharge, he returned to Columbia and received his A.B. in 1957. He then received a bachelor of architecture at Cooper Union in 1965. He continued with post-graduate studies at Harvard Graduate School of Design and at Stanford University focusing on education facilities. Richard joined KLQ Architects in 1961, a firm specializing in the design of educational institutions, eventually buying the firm outright in 1990. Richard took pride in the fact that his firm had built more schools than any other firm in Massachusetts.

While continuing his work at KLQ, he was also an adjunct professor at Wentworth Institute, concentrating on “Office Practices” and “Building Materials”. Richard was very active in town politics, being voted in as a member of the school committee for over nine years. He was the chairman of the Permanent Building Committee for 12 years and continued to serve for years afterward. He was active on the Committee Against the Prison, as well as active in producing studies for the Foxboro State Hospital reuse. He was also active in supporting the Foxboro Senior Center.

Richard loved to travel in his later years with his wife Patricia Anne (Glynn) Heydecker to indigenous heritage sites around America, later taking a world tour in 2009 focusing on world heritage sites that lasted several months. Richard passed away from pneumonia on May 18, 2022.

PATRICIA ANN (GLYNN) HEYDECKER was born on December 8, 1939 in Albany, NY. She was the daughter of the late Clifford Hallet Glynn and Eunice (Blum). At the age of ten, she and her family moved to New York City. After graduation from Jamaica High School, she attended Cooper Union as an architectural student under their first degree program. In September of 1959, as she entered the sixth floor studio, she spotted Richard along with the older architecture students passing through the studio on the seventh floor walkway. She said to her fellow student, “see that guy up there with the goatee? I’m going to marry him.” She did, on November 28, 1959.

She was a resident of Foxborough since 1962. She was employed as a designer from 1970 in the equipment and furnishing business and later with her husband in the architectural field at KLQ Architects in Norwood until her retirement in 2008. She was active in the Town of Foxborough as an elected Planning Board member and on the Committee against the prison. She was also active in producing studies for the Hospital reuse, as well as the recent Senior Center study, in addition to assisting her husband as an architect. 

In the summer of 1966, Patricia began to work as the Gift Shop Bunny at the Playboy Club of Boston. In September, she was elected President of the Taylor School PTA. Principal Ahearn said, “We have more fathers attending these meetings than any other school in town.” During this time Patricia and her husband joined FSHLUAC (Foxboro State Hospital Land Use and Acquisition Committee) in order to study the feasibility of the options presented by the state for use of the closed facility. She was also elected to the Town Planning Board for two 3-year terms.

After she left Playboy, Patricia volunteered her time developing a young people’s acting troupe named Pleeza Plaudit Players. The group of over 75 young adults performed “The Red Shoes”, hailed as a tremendous success. Unfortunately, Paul Brown, the other adult coordinator, absconded with the proceeds, leaving Patricia and the troupe with the bills. In her indomitable spirit, and with the help of the teenagers, Patricia managed to produce two more plays, numerous bake sales and car washes to pay off the debts.

In 1971, Patricia had a serious car accident which kept her in the hospital for six weeks, and eight additional weeks in a body cast. When she came home, her hospital bed took up the entire living room. FISH (Foxborough Interdenominational Service Hospice) came into being at that time due to Pleeza Plaudit’s young members whose parents were active in local churches. The kids heard about Patricia’s accident and convinced their parents to develop a program to assist people in similar situations. The people involved came to the house, offering dinners, helping around the house and caring for the children. The program continues even today. She was fully recovered by late that summer.

Patricia was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a five-year Past-President. She traveled extensively each year promoting the activities of the Auxiliary. Because of her work for the town, she received a Certificate of Merit in 1973 from the Foxborough Board of Selectmen.

JEANNE-ELISE MARIE HEYDECKER was born at Beth Israel Hospital on September 8, 1960 in New York City. Jeanne-Elise grew up in Foxborough, MA attending public schools, spending many weekends in New York City with her grandfather, Clifford Hallett Glynn, an artist and sculptor. Summers involved horse camp or additional schooling: Bridgewater State College at age 13 (Project Contemporary Competitiveness Accelerated Studies Program), and Boston Architectural Center at age 14. At age 15, she joined the Rotary Exchange Program and attended Sir J. J. College of Architecture in Bombay, India. After extensive travel in Asia and Africa, she returned home overland from India to Amsterdam in 1977. She finished high school with her class and attended the High School Studies Program at Massachusetts Institute for Technology (M.I.T.) during that final year.

At just 16, Jeanne undertook an extraordinary overland journey from India to Amsterdam, traveling through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey—a voyage she completed by train, bicycle, motorcycle, and on foot. Along the way, she experienced the hospitality of villagers, the kindness of strangers, and the raw truths of life on the road. Her journey culminated in Berlin before she returned to graduate high school with her class. During her senior year, she also attended advanced studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).

Jeanne went on to study graphic design at Eastern New Mexico University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She later worked with multiply handicapped youth in Brighton, Massachusetts, combining her creative talents with a passion for social impact. Jeanne married Steven Maurice Nunes in 1984 and produced no children. She later created a domestic partnership with Derek John Lang which produced a son, William Creagh Heydecker-Lang in 1993. She later severed the partnership in 1994. Derek was born on May 10, 1962 in Somerville, MA, and grew up in Burlington, MA. He was the son of Charles H. and Shirley M. (MacDonald) Lang. Derek was a graduate of Burlington High School. After a brief stint in the USMC, Derek returned home to concentrate in the warehousing field for the following eight years. He also worked for several years as a landscaper. His background is Scottish, and he is a member of the MacDonald Clan. He died at 53, after an extended battle with ALS. 

Her professional path took her into high-tech marketing, where she became known as an entrepreneurial executive who specialized in scaling startups across industries such as telecom, e-commerce, education, and recruitment. In 2006, she earned an Official Honoree Webby Award for creating the first social network for a K–12 public school district of over 38,000 students. Her accolades include the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) and Strathmore’s Woman of Excellence (2017), among others.

In 2007, Jeanne moved with her son, William Creagh Heydecker-Lang, to India, where she lived and worked in Kolkata, Gurgaon, Delhi, and Pune over the next decade.

Later, she brought her expertise to Myanmar, helping usher in modern telecommunications during its transition to democracy. In 2023, she married her longtime partner Saw Yu Yu Din. Together, they now live between Singapore and Chicago.

Jeanne has completed two overland trips worthy of significance. “My first trip overland was from Mumbai in 1977 with Jamshed, a relative of the Shah of Iran, Ashok, a French-Mauritian, Mary, an American who insisted on carrying a sitar the entire way, and myself. With not much money and a lack of visas, the team managed to get all the way to Bulgaria due to Jamshed”s connection to the Shah. We used trains when possible, but also rented motorcycles, bicycles and walked (lots and lots of walking), hitching rides with whoever could understand us. Many of the drivers took us to their homes. We ate their food, enjoyed their children’s entertainment and slept wherever they could keep us.”

A tireless adventurer, Jeanne has traveled to more than fifty countries, inspiring her son—now a global content strategist—to follow in her footsteps. She has completed two legendary overland expeditions: the first, from Mumbai to Amsterdam at age 16, and the second, from Brazil to Antarctica via Tierra del Fuego aboard a supply ship. These journeys, filled with hardship, laughter, and the kindness of strangers, cemented her reputation as a modern-day explorer.

From scuba diving in Indonesia to trekking with the Padaung in Myanmar, from leather bars in Berlin to elephant playtime in Thailand—Jeanne’s life is a tapestry of experiences few can match. Whether living in exile during COVID in Mexico, winning marketing awards, or sleeping in airports wrapped in a sitar, her stories are equal parts inspirational and outrageous.

Now retired, she travels in business class, of course—though the spirit of that teenage girl who crossed continents on a shoestring still travels with her.

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