John Heard's legacy spanned Fernandina — and the presidential rails

John H. “Jack” Heard’s life in Fernandina Beach was lived at the intersection of service, history and motion.

For more than half a century, Heard was known locally through Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors, the Atlantic Avenue funeral home where generations of Nassau County families turned in moments of loss.

A native of Moultrie, Georgia, and a 1969 graduate of the Texas College of Mortuary Science, Heard came to Fernandina Beach and purchased the former Oxley business on July 1, 1974. The name later became Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors, one of the oldest continuous businesses in Fernandina Beach and Nassau County.

Heard died Friday at age 77.

His work also made him a steward of one of Fernandina’s landmark buildings. Oxley-Heard operates from the historic John Denham Palmer House, an 1891 structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building had served over time as a residence, hospital and funeral home, and Heard became part of its preservation story when he acquired the business in 1974.

But Heard’s public story reached far beyond Fernandina Beach through the Georgia 300, the historic private Pullman rail car he owned and maintained. Built in 1930 and later used as a Georgia Railroad business car, the Georgia 300 became one of the most recognizable private rail cars in modern American political history. It was associated with presidential and campaign rail trips involving George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Barack Obama.

In 1996, the Los Angeles Times identified Heard as the Florida funeral director who owned the royal-blue Georgia 300 when it was leased to the White House for President Clinton’s “21st Century Express” whistle-stop campaign train. Smithsonian Magazine later noted the car’s role in Bush’s 1992 campaign train, Clinton’s 1996 trip and the Kerry-Edwards train tour in 2004.

The Georgia 300 returned to national attention in 2009, when President-elect Barack Obama used it for his pre-inaugural rail journey to Washington, D.C. News accounts at the time described Heard as the Fernandina Beach owner of both the car and the Orange Park rail yard where it was stored and maintained. Asked then about the car’s selection, Heard pointed to its long record on presidential and campaign trains.

That combination made Heard unusual: a small-town funeral director whose life’s work was rooted in local care, and a rail enthusiast whose carefully preserved car became part of the theater of American democracy. In Fernandina Beach, he helped families mark endings. On the rails, he helped preserve a rolling piece of history that carried presidents, candidates and memories across the country.

Heard passed away peacefully at home in the early morning of Friday.

Born October 1, 1948, he was the son of Howell Crane “Duck” Heard and Mary Catherine Shipp Heard of Moultrie, Georgia. He attended Colquitt County schools and was a graduate of the Moultrie High School Class of 1966. In his teenaged years, Jack became interested in funeral service after having worked a summer job at Henderson Funeral Home in Moultrie.

He continued to spend summers and after-school hours learning at Henderson and upon completion of high school, he enrolled in the Texas College of Mortuary Science at Baylor University in Dallas.

Jack graduated with his mortuary science degree in 1969, and returned to Georgia to gain his state certification and begin work as a licensed funeral director. He worked in Moultrie and at Ward’s Funeral Home in Gainesville, Georgia before the opportunity to take over at Oxley Mortuary in Fernandina presented itself.

Jack then completed all requirements to be a licensed funeral director in the state of Florida and in 1974, became the owner of what would become Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors, serving the Nassau County and Fernandina Beach community until his death.

Jack was a member of the Amelia Lodge No. 47 F. & A.M, and had recently received his 55-year plaque.

He had been a member of both the Hasan Shrine Temple in Albany, Georgia and the Morocco Temple in Jacksonville for over 50 years, was a long-time member and past-president of the Fernandina Beach Shrine Club, a long-time member of the Fernandina Beach Rotary Club and recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship, an over 40-year member and Past Director of the Royal Order of Jesters Court No. 90 in Jacksonville.

He held membership in the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners for over 40 years, serving on the board, as president, and as vice-president and organizational liaison with Amtrak for over 25 years.

In addition to his parents, Jack is pre-deceased by his nephews, Bailey Howell Heard and James Carroll Whittle, III, and father-in-law, Luther Eugene Feagin.

He leaves behind his loving wife, LeAnne Feagin Heard; brother and sister-in-law, Franklin Shipp “Buck” and Lynn Heard; son, Benjamin Feagin Goodrich; daughter and son-in-law, Dia Jacquelyn and Matt Sayre; niece and nephew-in-law, Katherine “Katie” and Landin Marzolf; nephew and niece-in-law, William “Will” and Taylor Whittle; granddaughter, Jacquelyn “Jackie” Sue Sayre; mother-in-law, Jacquelyn Feagin; sister-in-law, Lisa Feagin; niece-in-law, Erica Corbett; great-nephew, Logan Marzolf; great-nieces, Celia and Ila Whittle; many beloved cousins, and “special daughter,” Ashley Marie Smith.

Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Friday, July 3, 2026 in the Burgess Chapel of the Oxley-Heard Funeral Home, with John Drew officiating, and Masonic rites will be conducted by Amelia Lodge No 47. The family will receive friends from 1 to 3 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, July 2 in the chapel.

Jack will be laid to rest beside his parents with graveside services to be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 5, 2026 at Westview Cemetery in Moultrie, with dear friend and high school classmate, Edward Acuff officiating and Baker Funeral Home assisting.

Those wishing may make a donation in Jack’s memory to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, 2900 North Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607.