Howard B. Heard, Jr., age 88, of Houston, TX, passed away peacefully the morning of July 26, 2021. He was born in Canton, Texas to Howard Burnell Heard, Sr. and Evelyn Wynette Steed on July 15, 1933. Howard graduated from Canton High School in 1950, and left that fall for Texas A&M University. After a year, he returned home, and after a few years, answered his country’s call and joined the Army in 1954. After boot camp at Ft. Bliss in El Paso and Quartermaster’s school at Ft. Lee in Virginia, he ended up stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington State. He served during the Korean War but never left US soil. After 2 years he was honorably discharged and returned to Texas in 1956. He spent the later part of the 50’s studying at The University of Texas in Austin.
While working for Pritchard and Abbott (P&A) in Henderson, TX, he met Geneva Clamp, and they married in November 1961. They welcomed their first child, Jeff, in October 1962 and moved to Odessa shortly thereafter. They welcomed their second child, Jerry, in December 1963. P&A moved him to Houston in 1967, and he joined Occidental Petroleum shortly thereafter. He worked for OXY for 30 years. During “retirement”, he started working part-time for Clarke & Co, and eventually bought the company in 1998. He finally “retired” in Jan of this year.
Howard is preceded in death by his parents Howard and Evelyn, in-laws O.B and Faye Clamp, brothers-in-law Rueben Saxon, Jerry Clamp and Eddie Wilkerson, sisters-in-law Toni Heard and Annell Clamp, nephews Chris Heard and Scott Saxon, and niece Angie Clamp. He is now healthy in mind and body and celebrating the amazing reunion with his Savior and the many loved ones that he had missed so much.
He is survived by Geneva, his wife of 59 years, brother Jordie Heard of Canton and sister Martha Saxon of Tyler, sons Jeff (wife Daray) and Jerry (wife Sandy), Jeff’s children Ashley, Zachary, Joshua and Christopher, Jerry’s children Madeline and Dillon, his great-grandson Grayson, nieces Dawn and Jennifer, and nephews Micah, Jacob, Gregg, Gary and Dean. He will be greatly missed by family, and by friends from OXY, Clarke & Co, and First Baptist Church – Houston.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Friday, August 6th at 2 pm at Eubank Funeral Home in Canton, TX.
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