News
Email
Print
Leader Honored: 1,100 people attend Wait Chapel memorial for president emeritus
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Mourners greet one another outside Wake Forest's Wait Chapel after a memorial service for President Emeritus Thomas K. Hearn Jr.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: August 23, 2008
Thomas K. Hearn Jr., the president emeritus of Wake Forest University, was remembered yesterday as a strong and compassionate man who loved his family, worked to make WFU one of the nation's finest universities and courageously battled cancer for nearly five years.
"He uplifted this university," Joel Hearn said about his brother at the memorial service for Thomas Hearn in Wait Chapel.
"We are proud to have shared him with you," Joel Hearn told the about 1,100 people who attended. "He was a blessing."
The audience included Hearn's family members, university administrators, WFU's board of trustees, faculty members, students and Winston-Salem residents.
Hearn, 71, died Monday from complications of a brain tumor. Hearn retired in June 2005 after serving 22 years as WFU's president. He was praised for leading the school to separate from the Baptist State Convention in 1986 and helping the city revive its economy in the 1990s.
At his memorial service, his relatives and colleagues praised Hearn, whose family lived in Albertville, Ala. They said he loved his wife, Laura, and was proud of his children and stepchildren. His leadership at WFU helped transform the school from a regional university to one with a national reputation.
"The Hearn family is very grateful to the Winston-Salem and Wake Forest communities for your support of Tom's work and for your friendship over the last 25 years," Joel Hearn said to the audience. "You have made his time fruitful and happy."
Joel Hearn talked about his brother's childhood in Alabama, his relationship to their parents and siblings and his educational achievements. His grandparents had eight children and 25 grandchildren. As a child, Tom Hearn, who was steeped in the Baptist faith, tended a sugar-cane field, had a newspaper route and looked after his younger siblings.
"He was a loving and good natured boy who never complained," Joel Hearn said.
Tom Hearn excelled at tennis, and he was an avid skier and swimmer, Joel Hearn said. He loved the Tennessee River that flowed near Albertville.
Hearn graduated summa cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College and earned a divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.
After teaching philosophy at the College of William and Mary for 10 years, he returned to his home state in 1974 to start the philosophy department at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Hearn was named WFU's 12th president in June 1983.
Joel Hearn said that his brother survived brain cancer much longer than his doctors expected. He did not complain when he underwent surgery on the brain tumor, and faced his illness with faith and toughness.
Ed Wilson, a provost emeritus at WFU, read four passages from speeches that Hearn delivered in graduating ceremonies in 1992, 1995, 2001 and 2005. Wilson quoted Hearn as encouraging the graduates to serve humanity in their lives and careers.
"I must end my final goodbye by giving thanks to all of you in and out of Wake Forest," Wilson said, quoting from Hearn's speech at the 2005 graduation ceremony. "You helped me, and you often stood in my place.… I hope, in turn, I have helped you."
The Rev. Douglas M. Bailey, an assistant professor in the WFU School of Divinity, said that after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Hearn urged students at a retreat to open their hearts to the enemies of the United States.
"The hate that has wounded us must not be reciprocated on the innocent among us," Bailey quoted Hearn as saying to the students.
Weston P. Hatfield, a friend of Hearn's and former chairman of the WFU's board of trustees, described Hearn as a giant. He praised Hearn for initiating a building program at WFU that added several academic buildings and dormitories to the campus.
Because of Hearn's efforts, Nathan Hatch, the school's current president, took over the school as a vibrant academic institution that outgrew its competing schools. Hatfield pointed to the 2009 edition of U.S. News & World Report's guide, "America's Best Colleges" that ranks WFU as 28th among 262 national universities.
Hatfield said he was among Hearn's friends and relatives who gathered in his bedroom last Saturday. Hearn wanted to talk about his memorial service. After the others left the bedroom, Hearn took Hatfield by the hand and said, "I'm ready to go, and I will meet you later."
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
