Hubert Hearn, a World War II veteran and past chief of the Vicksburg Fire Department and Waterways Experiment Station safety department, was being remembered Saturday as an active community leader and family man following his death Friday. He was  90.

“That fire department was his love,” said Mr. Hearn’s wife of 69 years, Betty Foley Hearn. “He loved to keep busy. He couldn’t sit still for a second. Up until the day he died he was doing little odds and ends around the house.”

A Vicksburg native, Mr. Hearn served in the U.S. Army Air Corps fire brigade during World War II and joined the Vicksburg Fire Department in 1942. He retired as chief after about 20 years with the department and went on to work at the Waterways Experiment Station for another 20 years, also retiring as chief of the public safety unit.

“His entire adult life was about public safety,” said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace. “I knew him my entire life, and he was always a great guy and a real gentleman. He was also really ahead of his time as far as public safety and public relations. He always welcomed school kids at Central Fire station and he went out of his way to talk to them about the positive aspects of firefighting and the importance of fire safety.”

Mr. Hearn died Friday evening at the University Medical Center in Jackson, said Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey. He had been in the hospital since Thursday, after falling and suffering a head injury outside his home on Culkin Road.

Along with his career in public safety, Mr. Hearn loved the outdoors and spent a lot of his time at a country home off Fisher Ferry Road, said Mrs. Hearn.

“He loved to hunt, and he used to raise cows out there and fool with trailers,” she said. “He also loved raising a garden each year.”

The Hearns’ home is well known in the community for its extensive holiday displays each year, especially at Christmas.

“I think that really showed his compassion for kids and love for his family,” said Pace. “People from all over the community make a point to drive by their home each Christmas and admire their display.”

Along with his wife, Mr. Hearn is survived by two children, Jim Hearn and Sara Baker, as well as seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

The funeral is planned for Tuesday at Fisher Funeral Home.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com