Jack Corley Hearne

           Memorial services for Jack Corley Hearne, 88, of Lufkin, will be held Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at Shafer Funeral Home in Lufkin with Ty Phillips officiating.

           Mr. Hearne was born on September 17, 1935, in Sacul, Texas, to the late Cleon “Jack” Jefferson Hearne and Opal Mildred (Corley) Hearne, and passed away Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Lufkin.

           Jack spent early, formative years in Rockland, Texas, around other Hearne families where he built life-long friendships, many of which continued into the next generation. During WWII his parents moved the family to Orange, Texas, for work in the shipyards. As the war ended the family relocated to their homestead in Sacul, Texas, near Corley family relatives. Jack grew through his teenage years in the house his father built by hand. The Angelina River bottoms and forests all around were both a playground and work for Jack and his two younger brothers. Jack and his father and brothers hunted and fished, but also worked hard together. As a teenager Jack learned to sling paint on a house, install and maintain a galvanized roof and even manually cut trees at the other end of a cross-cut blade saw opposite his father or brothers. Jack struck out on his own, moving to Houston, at about age 16. Shortly, after finding steady work, he bought his father a gas powered chainsaw.

           In 1952 he married Mildred “Millie” (Small) Hearne, the love of his life, in Huntsville, Texas. The couple first resided in Houston where they had met as he worked in a grocery market, and she attended nursing school. They later relocated to Nacogdoches, then to Lufkin where they worked and raised three children. Their love for each other and all the family never dimmed.

           Beginning about 1955 Mr. Hearne worked for TX Foundries (later Citation) to provide for his family. He made many friends and enduring friendships across his 45 year career. Friends there nicknamed him “Happy Man” as he was constantly whistling, humming or even singing a tune to himself. At work he was known to be hard working and considerate, always willing to help others. Jack was a quiet man, slow to speak, but with a heart of service for others.

           Jack loved spending time outdoors and enjoyed watching nature, especially the squirrels, duck and deer. He became an avid amateur photographer with nature and family as his topics. Maybe his favorite outdoor events were canoe trips taken with close friends along the wild Neches River and the Village Creek streams. He was, absolutely, an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction. In his spare time, he always had a book in his hand.

            Across the years Jack assisted on many labors of love: roofing a house or a church, auto repair with family and for family. Jack learned his mechanic skills hands-on with his father-in-law, James Lester Small and brothers-in-law Paul and Wayne. He worked on many auto repairs for the kids and cousins. Millie would, on occasion, send Jack on repair missions for nursing colleagues, even in the middle of the night.

            Jack’s three children and many others would recognize his sound advice: “Don’t worry until there’s something to worry about” and “Never, ever give up!”

            He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, David Wayne and Rhonda Hearne of Lufkin; daughter and son-in-law, Regina (Hearne) and David Smith of Warren, TX; son and daughter-in law, Lee and Cindy Hearne of Nacogdoches; granddaughter, Katherine Hearne; grandson and wife, Kevin and Mary Katherine Hearne; grandson, Gean Smith; granddaughter and husband, Mary Elizabeth and Dylan Smith; grandson and wife, Ronnie and Carla Henson; grandson and wife, Jonathan and Angie Henson; granddaughter, Rhonda Wolfe; grandson, Sean Hearne; great-granddaughter, Jessica Wolfe; great-grandson, Caleb Henson; great-grandson, Logan Henson; great-grandson, Emohn Henson; great-grandson, Elias Hearne; brother and sister-in-law, George Royce and Pattie Hearne of Groves, TX; sister-in-law, Lyvonne Hooks of Cushing TX; sister-in-law, Darlene Small of Dallas, TX; brother-in-law, Wayne Small of Lufkin, TX; as well as many nieces and nephews and their families.

           He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Mildred “Millie” Hearne; and his brother Benny David Hearne. Honorary pallbearers will be Mary (Langley) Carroll, Carolyn (Langley) Havard, Wayne Small; Fred Courtney, Casey Ghant, and Jerry Belote.

           Special memorials may be made to American Cancer Society P.O. Box 6704 Hagerstown, MD 21741. Ducks Unlimited One Waterfowl Way, Memphis, TN 38120.

           Shafer Funeral Home, Lufkin directors.