Paul W. Heard Jr.'s

legacy of integrity, honesty and humility will

live on through his family, friends and all the

lives he touched, speakers after speaker

emphasized during funeral services Sunday in

Peachtree City. Heard, a well-known and

well-respected local political leader and

businessman, died Nov. 19 at Emory University

Hospital of complications from cancer.

His youngest son,

Preston, was born on his birthday and he died on

the 34th birthday of his twin daughters, Paige

and Paula. The children said they consider it an

honor to share the two dates, saying they will

always remember their father on those dates.

A longtime active

member of the First Baptist Church of Peachtree

City, his funeral service attracted more than

1,000 family members and friends. Heard's faith

was an integral part of his life. When running

for office he spent time prior to every speech in

his "prayer closet."

According to

longtime family friend Barbara Hust, "He

based everything on his Christian faith."

Heard taught Sunday School at First Baptist and

his class acted as honorary pallbearers at the

funeral.

Heard was the CEO

and board chairman of P.W. Heard Inc., a

multimillion-dollar industrial and mechanical

plumbing-contracting firm. His oldest son, Terry,

works in the family business.

He ran for the

Peachtree City Council in 1977 in a tight race

against Sallie Satterthwaite. While serving on

the council, the controversial decision was made

to purchase McIntosh Amphitheater, now renamed

the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater.

During Heard's

tenure, Fred Brown was appointed to the council

to finish an unfinished term. Brown later ran for

mayor, becoming the longest-serving mayor in

Peachtree City. Brown recounted that Heard was

responsible for the oft-used comment that

"The good thing about electing [Mayor Fred

Brown] was that we got Nita." Nita was

Brown's wife.

"Paul was one

of the finest gentlemen I ever had the privilege

of knowing. He was a man of integrity, compassion

and family values. He will be sorely

missed," said Brown.

Herb Frady, who

served as Peachtree City mayor while Heard was on

the council and attends Heard's church, said,

"He was one of the finest people I have ever

known. He was a man of honesty, integrity and

humility. He didn't want credit, he just wanted

to do what was right."

Longtime Citizen

columnist and former council member Sallie

Satterthwaite remembers Heard as the man who beat

her, gracefully.

"It says a lot

about a man when his political opponents regard

him with the utmost respect and affection,"

Satterthwaite said. "Such a man was Paul

Heard. When I sought what I thought would be easy

reelection to City Council in 1978, after having

stepped down for a family crisis, Paul also ran

for the seat. I remember little about any issues,

except that I did not win votes for my outspoken

lack of sympathy for the lack of amusements for

teens here.

"Whatever the

differences, Paul defeated me,"

Satterthwaite said, "and always seemed a bit

apologetic about it. He went from Peachtree City

to the state legislature; I like to think I

helped launch his political career. Our political

philosophy differed, but I admired him deeply as

one of the rare people in public service for

truly altruistic reasons. I also appreciated his

willingness to take seriously the budding

political awareness of our younger daughter Jean.

As a college student, she'd write to him at the

Capitol and he'd respond respectfully and with

explanations. I think his model helped shape her

into the dedicated public servant she became in

later years. If you have to be defeated in an

election, it helps that it's by a gentleman like

Paul Heard. He'll be missed."

A number of years

after leaving the council, Heard successfully ran

against Grady Huddleston for the House of

Representatives, winning by just over 200 votes.

At that time, the county was primarily

Democratic, making a win by a Republican an

additionally surprising victory. He served from

1983 to 1992 in what was then District 43. Heard

was very influential in the redistricting that

resulted in the current 104th and 105th

districts.

Heard served as

minority leader in the House from 1991 to 1992.

He was a key force in expanding the state's

sunshine law, requiring open government meetings

and open records.

Heard made an

unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination

for Georgia governor in 1994. Heard lost the

nomination to the well-moneyed Guy Millner.

According to

Peachtree City resident Barbara Hust, who was a

consultant on the campaign, "Heard was

always a gentleman. The state missed the

opportunity of having the finest governor ever in

1994."

Hust has been a

close family friend for approximately 20 years,

attended church with the Heards, and ran the

Heard representative campaigns. She told a story

of how during Heard's run for governor she and

her husband were in Helen, Ga. for a visit. The

pair were wearing Heard for Governor t-shirts. As

they were walking down the street in the rain, a

gentleman came up to her and asked if he could

shake her hand. He said he was a Democrat serving

in the House and that "behind the

scenes" they were working and hoping to get

Heard elected. He said Heard was the "finest

man I've ever known and is well-liked."

Hust said Heard was

a family man, a people person and "was very

strong in his beliefs."

According to a

number of friends, there were two things Heard

strongly disliked about being an elected

official: having to ask people for money for his

campaigns, and making decisions adversely

affected individuals and having to see their

reactions when making the difficult negative

decisions.

Shortly after his

run for governor in 1994, Heard suffered a number

of setbacks. His focus on the time-consuming and

stressful gubernatorial race dictated that he

take a step back from the management of the

family business.

Within days of

losing the Republican nomination, he discovered

the family business was in deep financial

trouble. Rather than take the easy way out as

many would, Heard determined to honor all of his

debts. He sold his new office building, the

family vacation home, his properties on Hilton

Head, and even mortgaged his own home to fulfill

his obligations. In the end, he turned the

business around and was one of the very few who

managed to do so under such challenging

circumstances.

The bonding company

that backed him during the endeavor uses Heard's

situation as a positive example to companies

going through similar situations.

He discovered he

had cancer during this period, also. After being

cancer-free for two years, another tumor was

discovered in 1998.

Heard is survived

Heard and Paula and Cory Eubanks, Sara and

Matthew Molchan; sons Preston Heard and Terry and

Tracy Heard; grandchildren Lauren, Chad and Adam

Eubanks, Aubrey Heard and Jayne Molchan; sister,

Dr. and Mrs. Winford (Carol) Hendrix;

brother-in-law, LeRoy and Beverly Hamilton and

nieces and nephews.

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