Octogenarian alum gives it all to Grosse

Palmer Heenan ’43, the 86-year-old Republican mayor of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., has served 13 consecutive two-year terms in office and said he plans to keep on going “as long as the people want me, as long as my health is good and as long as I can recruit people to work.”

And it seems like he may do just that. “It’s just assumed he’ll be elected year after year from now until eternity,” said John Howard ’43, Heenan’s longtime friend.

A Wilson School major, Heenan said he never expected to be the mayor of his hometown and instead aspired to be a national leader.

“I took the courses on global politics, and I was headed for the State Department in my own mind,” he said.

But things have changed. Though national political issues took center spotlight during this election season, Heenan said that his local job is just as important as the presidency, if not more so.

Heenan said that he believed “the mayor of a city probably has more influence on the quality of life for residents than the president of the United States.”

Page Heenan ’86 said she agreed that her father went into politics so that he could truly impact the lives of everyday citizens. “I think he realized that he could make more of a difference in fewer people’s lives,” she said.

“The mayor has to bring law and order, control crime, usher children across streets and manage rubbish pickup,” Palmer explained. “Presidents are concerned with the planes over Iran and Iraq, but that doesn’t affect people as much in a small town community, such as we have.”

Heenan said he has lived up to all of these duties as mayor, allowing him to run uncontested for more than 20 years.

“He’s done so much that people just kind of associate the city [of Grosse Pointe Park] with him,” his daughter added.

During his first few years as mayor, Heenan used his experience as a lawyer to control crime in his community by completely overhauling the organization of the local police department.

“I implemented a combination of police and fire in order to have double use of people and a very efficient system,” he said. “We cross-train our men to do both police and fire work, eliminating the fire department as a separate entity.”

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The crime rate in Grosse Pointe Park has decreased from 900 to 350 felonies per year during his tenure. Heenan attributes the reduction to the restructured police department, which allows more policemen to be on patrol.

Heenan has committed himself to not only protecting but also entertaining the members of his community. His projects include constructing a boardwalk, marina, ice skating rink, putting range, gymnasium and movie house.

“I’m really the director of entertainment,” Heenan noted.

Howard said that he believes Heenan has the perfect personality for the job.

“He’s a very happy-go-lucky sort of fellow and fun to be with,” Howard explained.

Heenan also said that managing trash collection is an important mayoral duty. Though cleaning the streets may seem like a minor detail, Heenan has worked to clean his streets metaphorically as well as physically. He said the greatest challenge of his position is setting a decent example for people.

“I have a clear conscience and I have a very happy attitude, but I can’t stand the corruption I see in Washington,” he explained. “Government is man’s worst enemy, and that’s why I’m in government.”

“People usually want to get rid of politicians,” Heenan said. “But they don’t want to get rid of me because I’m a servant as a politician, not a master, and that’s important.”

Howard agreed that Heenan is an ideal community leader.

“If we could clone him and put him in every city,” he said, “all our problems would be solved.”

Though he graduated from the University 65 years ago, Heenan said that his coursework in the Wilson School prepared him for his life in public service.

“I took all these courses there about how government should run and how you should run a city in [terms] of economics,” he said.

Outside of class, Heenan’s activities as a member of the freshman golf team, the debate team and Charter Club prepared him for the social aspects of his political career, he said.

“I disdained local government, and where did I end up? Local government. And I’ve had a marvelous run,” he said.