Dr. Barbara Stevens Heusel

Barbara Stevens Heusel passed away peacefully on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Tallahassee Florida, where she lived after her retirement in 2005 as Professor of English Emerita at Northwest Missouri State University. 1n 2019, after receiving a diagnosis of mild Alzheimer’s, she married Greenville native Dennis Moore, who retired early from the Florida State University English Department to be her full-time caregiver. Their wedding followed a nearly-38-year courtship.

A native of Louisville, she was the daughter of Ruth and Jay T. Stevens and the sister of Bonnie Stevens Lyons, of Memphis Tennessee, and Sandra Stevens Bergdoll. She started a family in Louisville with her first husband, Richard, and they had three daughters: Heidi Freeman (Rob) of Greenville, SC; Lisa Heusel-Gillig (Rick) of Decatur, GA; and Gretchen McCathern (Eddie) of Elliott, SC. She was the proud grandmother of Paul Gillig, Michelle Gillig, Sara Freeman Stanko (Caleb) and Leslie McCathern.

She earned a B.A. from Heidelberg College in Ohio in 1957 and an M.A. from the University of Louisville in 1967. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina in 1983, with the support of a Mellon Fellowship. She taught at Furman University, in Greenville, for sixteen years and later at Queens College in London and at Wake Forest University.

Dr. Heusel was a brilliant teacher who inspired hundreds of students throughout her career. She had a passion for life, loved to laugh, and relished live bluegrass, painting and the arts, aerobics and swimming, and nature, including morning glories and the Angel Oak. She and Dr. Moore traveled to Ireland, England, Italy, Spain, and Turkey, and always enjoyed returning to their beloved Charleston.

An accomplished scholar specializing in British literature, Dr. Heusel published two book-length studies of Dame Iris Murdoch’s writings. In Manhattan in 1986, Dr. Heusel founded the Iris Murdoch Society. Four years ago, Dr. Moore created the Barbara Stevens Heusel Research Fund for Early-Career Scholars, which the Iris Murdoch Society maintains, helping support PhD students whose work builds on her scholarship.

The family will be at the home of Heidi and Rob Freeman in Greenville, and a graveside service is being planned in June.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations in Barbara Heusel’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Project, https://alzheimersproject.org.

Breanna Green of Bevis Funeral Home (850-385-2193 or www.bevisfh.com) is assisting the family with their arrangements.