Arlene Tocantins, 74, described as woman in "constant motion"

It was the late 1960s and Arlene Grundstrom Tocantins, an undergraduate at the University of Washington, had one of the more unusual backgrounds for a college student: She was a divorcée, a single mother of six, and she was 37 years old.

But she also had the unique pairing of strength and spirit that her Finnish relatives call Sisu. That was Mrs. Tocantins — pedaling her bike with gusto, joining the stream of students coursing to the U.

Mrs. Tocantins died from pneumonia on Tuesday (March 7). She was 74.

She wasn't the type of woman to complain or regret where life had taken her. And some chapters in her life had been difficult: two marriages that ended in divorce and a third that ended when her husband died just months after they married.

Doctors diagnosed her with Alzheimer's disease when she was 67, forcing her to retire from a two-decade career teaching English in Seattle public schools.

Her struggle was documented in a 2004 film, "Quick Brown Fox: An Alzheimer's Story," which aired locally on KCTS and was made by daughter Ann Hedreen of Seattle and her husband, Rustin Thompson. Hedreen hoped the film would be a call to action for continued Alzheimer's research funding.

It turned out to be a much gentler story, which is how Mrs. Tocantins' family remembers her now.

She was born March 25, 1931, in Butte, Mont., then a copper-mining boomtown. Nothing ever grew in Butte, she used to say. Which is why Mrs. Tocantins loved the verdant and snow-capped vistas she'd take in from her Madrona home.

She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the UW at 39 and completed her master's in education at 42.

Mrs. Tocantins was a great communicator, a lover of words and stories who did daily crossword puzzles and always believed that as a teacher she was doing important work. She taught at several Seattle schools, including Asa Mercer Middle School and Roosevelt High School.

A source of pride was seeing all six children graduate from college.

She was a woman "in constant motion," daughter Hedreen recalled. During her college years, her mother studied, parented and then on the weekends she'd pack up the kids and take them skiing.

Mrs. Tocantins painted in oils and in watercolors, continuing her art late in life. "It's easy to get bogged down in the everyday duties of life, but she never lost sight of the larger personal issues that she wanted to accomplish," said daughter Lisa Hedreen MacDonald of Gig Harbor.

She used to hum classical music and show tunes. She appreciated the arts, especially the theater. A perfect evening for their mother, her daughters said, was eating dinner at Perche'No on Lower Queen Anne, then taking in a show at the Intiman or the Seattle Rep.

Mrs. Tocantins is survived by a sister, Joann Buntin of Memphis, Tenn. Her oldest child, John C. Lind Jr., died in 2004. In addition to her two daughters, she is also survived by son James Hedreen of Madison, N.J., and daughters Kristie Lind Hammond of Buckley, Pierce County, and Caroline Hedreen of Kirkland, and their spouses, as well as 14 grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Church, 3201 Hunter Blvd. S., Seattle. Donations can be made in her name to the University of Washington Friends of Alzheimer's Research, UW Medicine Development, 1325 Fourth Ave., Suite 2000, Seattle WA 98101.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com