Paul Hearn

Paul Woodrow Hearn died on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at his home in Sulphur, LA following a courageous battle with cancer.

Paul was born on January 15, 1956 in Boston, Massachusetts to J. Woodrow Hearn and Anne Connaughton Hearn. He graduated from Lake Charles High School in 1974 and attended Centenary College and McNeese State University.

For many years, Paul was a safety inspector at Cities Service Refinery and received many professional certifications in his work where he had a reputation of always wanting to do his best for the company as well as for his family and friends.

Paul enjoyed activities in the outdoors and, as an avid mountain climber, he summited several of the 14,000-foot high mountain peaks in Colorado. He served as president of the Pelican Paddlers of Lake Charles and could often be found on the lake in his kayak.

Wood crafting was a special joy of Paul’s, working in his wood shop at home. He built his own wooden kayaks and was always at the ready to give a hand to friends and family when his gifts of carpentry and wood working were needed.

Since his high school days, Paul has especially enjoyed music and regularly traveled to New Orleans to attend the opera. As a young adult, he traveled with the Centenary College Choir to Europe and sang with the choir in the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. At the time of his death, Paul had been a tenor in the Masterworks Chorale with the Louisiana Choral Foundation for more than two decades.

Throughout his life, Paul traveled extensively with family members to Alaska for salmon fishing and to many countries in Europe and Asia, including Nepal. He most enjoyed a transatlantic crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a cruise ship bound for Barcelona with his parents and beloved wife, Anne.  Most years, Paul spent many happy weeks at his family cottage on the coast of Maine.

Paul will be remembered as a kind, compassionate and loving husband, father, son, brother and friend who was always ready to help another with any kind of need, no matter how large or small.

He is survived by his beloved son, James Chance Hearn of Las Vegas, NV. He is also survived by his parents, Bishop and Mrs. J. Woodrow Hearn and his brothers John Mark Hearn and Bruce Charles Hearn with his wife Mary Margaret Owen; and sister, Diana Elizabeth Hearn; nieces Elizabeth Anne Smith and Laura Kathryn Smith, and nephews Woodrow Hearn and Dylan Hearn.  He is also survived by his mother-in-law, Lyndell Morris Stewart, sister-in-law Jane Ellen White and brother-in-law James White, nephew Christopher Dale White, niece Paula Anne Hilliard with husband Kenneth Hilliard, great niece Madison Lynn Hilliard and great nephew, Braden Dale Hilliard.

He is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Anne Ivah Stewart Hearn, who died December 31, 2014 as well as his maternal grandparents, Clyde Augustine Connaughton and Kathryn Weatherford Connaughton; paternal grandparents Rev. J E Hearn and Alta Fordham Hearn.

A memorial service for Paul is scheduled for Saturday, November 5, 2016, 11am, at First United Methodist Church, 812 Kirkman St, Lake Charles, LA. Dr Donald Cottrill and Rev Weldon Bares officiating.  A reception following the service will be held in Paxton Hall at the church.  Service arrangements are by Johnson Funeral Home of Lake Charles.

Donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Louisiana Choral Foundation, PO Box 403, Lake Charles, LA 70602.