“It all starts in the home. Listen to your parents,” advised Raymond Heard. “Nobody cares more for you than your parents. I can’t imagine what my life would be if my mother hadn’t taught me like she taught me—how she raised me.”
Raymond Heard values the lessons his mother taught him over the years. One of the lessons that made a huge impact on his life dealt with finances.
“One of the things that my mother instilled in me was to save; no matter how little money you make, always save some of it,” explained Raymond. “I can remember when I was in second or third grade, we used to have recess, and mother would give us a penny. Well back in the 50s, a penny would buy a great big cookie. Instead of buying a cookie, I saved those pennies. I can remember I saved 50 cents, and I thought I had myself some money. I’ve been saving since then no matter how much money I made.”
He’s always had a strong work ethic and found a job when he was still very young. He still used the lesson his mom taught him about saving once he started working.
“I got my first job when I was 13 years old,” Raymond reminisced. “There was a plant where he would sell gas and distribute it to service stations. There used to be a service station just below where they’re building the bank, and I’d deliver gas there. Naturally, when Mr. Smith paid me off, he would just write me a check. I was living with my mother, so I didn’t have any bills to pay. I would save it. Whenever I wanted money for something, I would just cash a check, but I would always cash the oldest check. I remember I pulled these checks out of my pocket one day, and he asked how many I had. I counted them, and I had six checks that I’d never cashed.”
He didn’t stop working when he was home. He worked hard to help his family out when he was home.
“I helped my granddad on the farm, and I used to plow a mule,” remembered Raymond. “We weren’t fortunate enough to have a tractor, so we plowed mules all day long. My mother had the main garden, and my brother and I had our own little garden. We’d go somewhere and clean off a place to have a garden. One of the most wonderful things it would be was every morning we would jump out and see if something had come up. I still remember that as a child. You plant something and it starts growing up. I just love to see things growing.”
He loves his family greatly, and he counted his employer as family in a way. His father had passed away when he was very young, and he looked up to his employer as a sort of father figure since his employer took him in and taught him different things.
“I started working for him and I clenched onto him really more than an employer because I didn’t have a dad,” recalled Raymond. “I looked up to him for things and guidance. He actually taught me how to drive. I can remember, and I wish to goodness that truck was still around that he taught me how to drive in. He took me down, and I took the test and got my driver’s license. At 17 in Mississippi, you could get your commercial driver’s license if you pass the test. He took me down, and I took the test. I got my commercial driver’s license. I thought I was something—17 year old kid and got my commercial driver’s license. He was more than an employer. He was more like a leader to me—a substitute dad or something like that.”
A strong work ethic isn’t the only thing Raymond has had; he also has a heart for others and a desire to help. His inspiration for helping others is thanks to his mom instilling those values in him by telling him about and comparing his actions to his own father while he was growing up.
“My father was a minister, and he preached his last service at Elwood Church of God in March of 1944. At the time, we were living just outside of Mobile, Alabama. He was not a regular pastor there; he was just filling in because they didn’t have a regular pastor there. He spent the night with my grandmother and grandfather in Elwood and caught the train. From what I was told, he was preparing his sermon, but unfortunately he passed away that Saturday. Naturally, after he passed away they had his funeral and everything. My mother was from this area, so she moved back up to this area, and that’s why I was raised here,” explained Raymond. “She used to tell me so many stories about him, and it was almost like he was living in the house with us. If I did something wrong, she would say that my dad wouldn’t do that and would tell me that over and over. It just got the mentality in my head that it’s wrong for me to do that. It got so malignant that she was telling me that over and over that when I did something wrong, I would rather for her to whip me than tell me that he wouldn’t do that.”
While he never became a minister like his father, Raymond has found his own form of ministry to assist others. He recently got it started up and is excited about the difference his foundation is able to make.
“My mother never told me that she wanted me to be a minister. She never said it, but I got the feeling from what she was telling me. I had to get away from the minister part because there are certain things that a minister performs that I get too emotional. I just said that being a minister is really not for me, but there are other things you can do to spread God’s word,” proclaimed Raymond. “Some years later, I came up with the idea of creating a foundation for the benefit of senior citizens and disadvantaged children. I came up with the Heard Foundation. I’ve been working on it for quite a while, and I introduced it this November. We actually work with two churches out there: Elwood Church of God and Old Oak Grove Baptist Church. When you do something for someone and it puts a smile on their face, it just does something for you. I started all this some time ago and went to God in meditation because I wanted to get to the point where I’m financially able to do it. I didn’t want to go out and ask for donations to run it. With God, I got myself in a financial position to create the foundation myself, and I just purchased a brand new bus. If the church wants to go somewhere, we can take them since we have a 14 passenger van. My wife is already planning out for some senior citizens to take them to dinner. It won’t cost them anything; it’d be paid for from the foundation. I visit the nursing home. When it comes to disadvantaged children, there are a number of disadvantaged children that may have only one parent or be in foster care, and we can do something for them. This program would be to help. That’s what it’s all about.”
He feels blessed to have his wife assisting him with the foundation. He believes she is a blessing to the ministry and knew that she was the one God had for him when they first met. In fact, they had a very unique start to their relationship.
“I give a lot of credit to my wife for helping with this thing. She is from Hawaii, so when we first got married I wondered if it would create a problem if she didn’t want to move to Mississippi. She told me she would go anywhere I wanted her to go as long as I didn’t take her out of the United States,” declared Raymond. “I met my wife and talked to her several times. At the time, she was living in Las Vegas and I was living in the Los Angeles area. I called her up one day and just proposed to her. I hadn’t ever had a date with her. It was just something that told me that this is my woman—this is who God wanted me to have. We had our first date after we got engaged. It’s just sometimes what you’re looking for is right before your eyes.”
There is something he’s always enjoyed doing just for fun: building things. In fact, he took classes for it when he was younger.
“When I was in high school, I was one of the shop men that had what they called adult class,” informed Raymond. “It would be after school for adults that wanted to learn a trade. The teacher asked me one day to come to his class and told me that he knew I think I might not need it but it’s always good to learn everything you can. I went to his class, and he taught me how to lay bricks and do carpentry work. In fact, when I went to California, and I decided to build my house, that came into play because I already knew how to do it. I built my house, and it was a pretty good size house: six bedrooms, seven baths.”
His decision on how he built his house in California stemmed from an event in his childhood.
“I guess one of the reasons I made seven bathrooms is because I grew up as a really poor, disadvantaged child,” recalled Raymond. “An outhouse to me as a child was a luxury. We grew up without an outhouse. In fact, when I was living out here, I built our own toilet when I got big enough. I built our outhouse at our house, and I guess that was just in my head that if I ever built a house then there would be lots of toilets. I built my house with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.”
As time goes by, Raymond intends to do everything he can to assist others and teach them as much as he can. He hopes to see his ministry grow in the upcoming years and looks forward to the positive impact he can have in the community.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726.
