Family remembers Pearl Harbor veteran

Foy Wallace Heffington, 90, of Enola, one of the last surviving veterans of Pearl Harbor, died Sunday (Oct. 5, 2008).

His wife, Jewell Heffington, said her husband was "real sociable. Pretty outgoing. He was quite a sports person. He loved baseball, basketball, fishing."

She said he was in the Navy for 20 years, followed by 20 years working in security for the Federal Reserve Bank.

"We built out here in the country 28 years ago," she said. "We gardened and kept the yard here at home. We always ran the errands together. We did everything together."

She said they both grew up in Enola and went to school together from seventh-grade through high school. While her husband was in the Navy, "We moved quite a bit, west coast to east, and then south. I didn't mind it. I enjoyed it. Different places otherwise I wouldn't have gotten to have gone."

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Foy Heffington's nephew, Terrell Lasley of Houston, Texas, said he remembers going with his mother on a train to visit his uncle during his later years in the Navy when he was chief boilermaker working as an instructor at a school in Philadelphia.

"That's what he did in the last few years before he got out. Most of his time was spent at sea," Lasley said.

Lasley said of his uncle, "His passion was quail hunting and dogs. He also liked to fish, but he was a very, very enthusiastic quail hunter and prided himself on the quality of the bird dogs he kept."

Lasley's wife, Betty Ann Lasley, said, "Foy loved children. They always gravitated to him."

Another nephew, Tommie Gadberry of Enola, said, "I named my son after him, so I thought quite a bit of him. When I was a teenager and he was back from the Navy and talking to Daddy about playing baseball and what they did when they were kids, they just kind of amazed me.

"He probably was the reason I went into the Navy right when I went out of high school. I wanted to emulate him, I guess. He was always just kind of an idol to me, as an uncle."

Gadberry added, "My dad worked in El Dorado, and when Foy retired from the Navy, he moved next door in El Dorado, because they were pretty good buddies. When my dad moved back to Enola, it wasn't long before Foy moved back to Enola. They always had a pretty close relationship for hunting and fishing, so he was always pretty close to me."

Betty Ann Lasley said Foy Heffington's funeral included full military honors, and the military's participation was arranged in less than the 48 hours normally required.

"We want to express our appreciation to Roller-McNutt Funeral Home, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy for this effort, especially on such short notice."

Foy Heffington was featured in the Log Cabin Democrat on Dec. 7, 2004. He gave a vivid account of his memory of the attack on Pearl Harbor. To read the story, go to http://www.thecabin.net/stories/120704/loc_1207040009.shtml

(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)