Lynn Heinzerling Stinson

February 8, 1947 – September 25, 2026

Lynn Heinzerling Stinson, 79, of Charleston, South Carolina, passed away unexpectedly on September 25, 2026, at the Medical University of South Carolina, after a valiant fight against an illness she refused to dignify by name.

Lynn was born February 8, 1947, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Ned Harry Heinzerling and Doris (Huttleston) Heinzerling. Her family lived in Ohio, New Jersey and on Long Island before settling in Birmingham, Michigan, when Lynn was 14. She graduated from Seaholm High School in 1965.

Lynn attended Northwood Institute, now Northwood University, which honored her with its Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in 1990. She served for several years on its Michigan Campus Board of Governors, and in 2014 the university named her a Distinguished Woman.

In 1980, Lynn joined Guardsmark, Inc., as the company's first woman account manager, a distinction she was proud of all her life. In 1982 she married Terry Lee Stinson, a fellow Seaholm graduate she had known since high school, and they made their home in Bloomfield Hills. When their son, Christopher, was born in 1984, she left Guardsmark to raise him. Lynn considered motherhood her greatest achievement. She gave everything of herself so that her son could have the best in life, and he would not have traded her for the world.

Along the way, Lynn became an accomplished photographer, photographing countless weddings, chronicling the community's social scene for the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers, and seeing her work published in Sports Illustrated. She volunteered for many organizations over the years and served as president of the Bloomfield Hills branch of the Woman's National Farm & Garden Association.

Decades later, former Guardsmark colleagues brought her back to the business side of the security industry, first in sales in Louisville, Kentucky, and then as a sales executive at Circadian Risk, a young company she was deeply proud to help grow. She landed several of its key accounts and remained part of the team until her death.

In 2024 she moved to Charleston to be closer to Christopher, trading Michigan winters for the Lowcountry. She missed Michigan dearly, but she quickly made many friends and fell in love with the city's history and culture. Her kindness touched many lives, including the doctors, nurses and caregivers who cared for her.

Lynn was a lady in every sense: always elegantly dressed, always poised, always beautiful. Beneath the polish was a dry wit that could find the light in any situation, funerals included.

Above all, Lynn was a woman of deep faith. Prayer carried her through the best of times and the hardest of them, and it made her positivity tenacious and unshakable. She lived her faith by helping anyone in need, and she was known to go out of her way to bring cold lemonade to road crews working in the summer heat. She was a member of Kirk in the Hills for nearly 50 years, and in Charleston she grew to love the community at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church.

Lynn was preceded in death by her husband, Terry, in January 2020; her parents, Ned and Doris Heinzerling; and her brother, Eric Heinzerling. She is survived by her son, Christopher H. Stinson, as well as extended family.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, 53 Meeting Street, Charleston, with a reception to follow on the church grounds. A second service will be held Friday, November 6, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Kirk in the Hills, 1340 West Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, followed by a memorial tea at the church. Her ashes will be interred in the Kirk in the Hills Columbarium, alongside her parents, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Kirk in the Hills, 1340 West Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302, or to Swing for the Lowco