Commencement 2007 - Villanova University

Guidance Center in New Rochelle, N.Y.,” she explained.“Play and art therapy are my areas of expertise.”In Sweden, where Monika was born and lived untilher marriage, her acquaintance with Queen Silvia led tobecoming a co-founder of the World Childhood Foundation.Established by Queen Silvia in 1999, this nonprofitorganization is dedicated to serving the most vulnerablechildren worldwide, among them street children, institutionalizedchildren, sexually abused girls and young mothersat risk. The work is supported by the 14 original cofounders,and by corporate partnerships and donations.The World Childhood Foundation “is an umbrellaorganization for work that takes place in 15 countries,”Monika explained. “We have four boards: in Sweden,Germany, Brazil and the United States. Right now,there are over 100 projects that take care of street children,young girls and young mothers who may be vulnerableto human trafficking and sexual abuse. I havetraveled in Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic statesfor this organization and have seen the conditionsunder which this abuse happens. It is devastating.”Monika speaks with a soft voice that is brushed with abarely detectable Swedish accent. Her elegant demeanoris undoubtedly one of the characteristics that led a youngCharlie Heimbold to make his move to meet her in 1959.The Frenchman didn’t have a chanceDuring the summer of 1959, Charlie was completinghis study program in The Hague on a Ford Foundationgrant. It was that summer in Scheveningen, onHolland’s coast, that he met Monika Barkvall.“I was just 21,” she mused. “A girlfriend and I werea little restless in Sweden that summer and wethought, where shall we go for a holiday? We consideredHolland and decided to go to The Hague. Duringour visit, we were invited to a ball for studentsgiven by the mayor of The Hague. Charlie was studyinginternational law in The Hague; he had a scholarshipand….”“She was with a Frenchman,” Charlie interrupted,reaching over to gently touch his wife’s hand.“But the Frenchman didn’t have a chance,” Monikacontinued. Later that summer, Charlie visited Monikaand her parents in Sweden, and not long after that, heinvited her to come visit the United States.“I didn’t go right away,” she recalled, “I wanted tograduate from design school. As soon as I did, I leftSweden by ship, found an apartment in New York andbegan working in the garment district.”After a two-year courtship, Charlie and Monikawere married in 1962 in Sweden.A partnership of love, respectand shared valuesFrom the beginning, the Heimbolds agree, their relationshiphas been a partnership, imbued with deeplove and respect for each other and the values theyshare. Monika took time out to raise their four chil-From the Jersey Shore...Charles A. Heimbold Jr., Esq., ’54 A&S grew up on the JerseyShore, the son of an Irish-American mother named Marywho was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and a father,named Charles, who had German roots. Charlie, his five brothersand their parents lived near a river, whichstirred his curiosity about what lay beyond andplanted a seed for travel that eventually wouldtake him to every part of the globe.“I was only 17 when I started college,”Charlie recalled. “I received an NROTCscholarship to Villanova. Why did I decideon Villanova? Well, it was intimate, and Ihad this curiosity about the liberal arts.” AtVillanova, he studied English and history,and he was a swimmer. He was also anHonors graduate, he acknowledged humbly.“I was commissioned into the Navy at 21 and was assigned toduty on a destroyer for three years in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean,Red Sea and Persian Gulf. It was a great experience! Ittaught me leadership and responsibility; by the time I was 22, Iwas the senior watch officer and chief engineering officer on theship,” he added. After the Navy, Charlie headed off to law schoolat the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of theLaw Review and earned his LL.B. degree in 1960. He also studiedat The Hague Academy of International Law and went on toreceive a Master of Laws degree from New York University.... TO VILLANOVAIn his senior year at Villanova,Heimbold took part in NROTC, threeclubs—Spanish, InternationalRelations and Industrial Relations—and varsity swimming, notes the 1954Belle Air yearbook.6 Villanova Magazine