‘Kind beyond measure’: Remembering reporter Heidi Fenton Tunison’s impact

If you were ever interviewed by Heidi Fenton Tunison, you felt her compassion behind her wide smile. She brought that sense of caring to her storytelling. 

Nearly all her stories were under the byline of Heidi Fenton, though she wrote for The Lakeshore under her married name, Heidi Tunison. Her last stories were in 2020 when she wrote family-focused features for us. 

Heidi, who lived in Zeeland, stepped back from writing when she began to experience autoimmune issues. Within a year, doctors diagnosed a form of pancreatic cancer. Despite an aggressive treatment plan, she died Oct. 11 at age 35. At her visitation, a table was covered with her stories that appeared on the front pages of The Grand Rapids Press, Muskegon Chronicle, Jackson Citizen Patriot and Ann Arbor News.  

When Heidi became a mom seven years ago, she scaled back to part-time hours, working for the Ottawa County Clerk's Office and as a communications coordinator for the Van Singel Fine Arts Center at Byron Center Public Schools. 

During this time, we invited her to write for us about activities that parents could do with their children along the Lakeshore. It was the perfect beat for Heidi because it combined her two loves: spending time with her children and storytelling. 

Violet and Quinn Tunison were excited to back at the Howard Miller Public Library in Zeeland.
Among the stories Heidi wrote were what it meant to communities for libraries to reopen after the pandemic, the return of Zeeland's cherished Pumpkinfest celebration and a sunflower farm that drew families for picturesque visits. The stories came with photos of her adorable children, Quinn and Violet, now 7 and 5. 

‘She gave her whole heart’

Assistant Editor Andrea Goodell remembers working with Heidi at the Holland Sentinel in 2011, when she covered public safety and courts. 

"I know I'm not the only one who will remember Heidi by her radiant smile. No matter the situation -- good, bad, or indifferent -- she faced it with an ear-to-ear smile,” recalls Goodell.

"She was a brilliant writer -- one of the best I've ever worked with -- but I was always begging her for her stories at deadline. She always knew there was something more she could do, some other detail she could add to make the story even better. Heidi never did anything by half measures. She gave her whole heart to her work and then to her family."

I met Heidi a year earlier when she was an intern at The Grand Rapids Press/MLive. She joined our editorial team after serving as the managing editor of Central Michigan University's award-winning student newspaper, Central Michigan Life. After her MLive internship, she was one of 22 people across the country invited to take a summer fellowship that year with the prestigious Poynter Institute. 

Quinn and Violet Tunison walk through the sunflowers.
Though Heidi stepped away from journalism to focus on raising her children, she remained close to that world through her husband, John, a longtime MLive reporter. In The Lakeshore, she wrote a column about how she feared for his safety as he covered the violent riots following George Floyd’s death. She made a passionate argument for supporting journalists, whose role is to advocate to help inform the public.

‘More than a job’

“It didn’t matter to him that he had just worked a 20-hour shift. As a journalist covering public safety, he knows it’s his responsibility to be present when there is a news story to be told, no matter how long it takes to tell that story or in what conditions that story is unfolding. 

I know that feeling all too well. I also worked as a journalist for several years, covering news for hours outside in negative-degree temperatures and long after dark. Journalists are present so that others can stay home and remain informed at all times. 

Reporting the news is much more than a job to those who do it — it’s a duty that is carried out with a deep sense of obligation. Journalists are real people who live in our communities, raise children in our communities, and care about our communities just as we do.”

Her husband recalls how journalism was her true passion, and how it was fueled by a deep Christian faith.

“She had a heart and flair for telling the stories of those experiencing hardship,” John wrote in her obituary and in an emotional Facebook post, he shared how “she was kind beyond measure. She once told me that, after interviewing a mom who had nothing after a fire or some other tragic event, she went out and bought blankets or clothing (can't remember exactly what) for that mom.”

Education funds have been set up for Heidi’s two children, Quinn and Violet.