Fannie E. S. Heck

Fannie E. S. Heck served as president of WMU a total of 15 years-1892 to 1894, 1895 to 1899, and 1906 to 1915-the longest tenure in WMU history. Within weeks of the 1906 Annual Meeting she was launching Our Mission Fields, the WMU Training School swirled into operation, a committee gave birth to Young Woman's Auxiliary, tracks were laid for the Royal Ambassadors organization, WMU took over the literature publishing business that Armstrong had managed under ownership by other agencies, and WMU declared itself in favor of formal mission study.

She wrote WMU's first full-length study book In Royal Service, a wide-sweeping history of WMU as she saw it for the 25th anniversary. She also penned "The Woman's Hymn," which was adopted as the Union's official song. Her final official words became the most quoted lines in WMU history. She bequeathed to WMU her manuscript for The Pageant of the Golden Rule. Fleming H. Revell published two of her books: Everyday Gladness and Sunrise and Other Poems.