Bernard "Bernie" Lee Heavner

Bernard “Bernie” Lee Heavner, 90, passed away on November 14, 2018 in his son's home in Manassas, Virginia. He passed peacefully in the care of hospice and in the company of his family. Bernie was born in December 1927 in Upshur County, West Virginia. Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served tours of duty in Italy and Hawaii as a Signal Corpsman. When he returned home from the service, Bernie attended college at West Virginia Wesleyan. After completing a degree in History he enlisted a third time, again serving as a member of the Signal Corps. Bernie's professional career was spent principally in hospital administration at Camden Clark Medical Center and Marietta Memorial Hospital. Upon retirement from the latter in 1997, Bernie maintained a consulting practice focused on medical office billing and collections through 2007. In his personal life, Bernie spent much of his free time traveling with his family and enjoying natural beauty. He loved to spend time outdoors sightseeing and fishing. During the last decade of his life, Bernie devoted much of his time to birdwatching. He traveled domestically and internationally in pursuit of “life birds”, a birdwatcher's term for species they have identified in the wild for the very first time in their life. Bernie was also an avid fan Pittsburgh Pirates baseball throughout his life. Bernie was preceded in death by his wife Leona Lee (Blair) Heavner, to whom he was married from 1975 until her passing in 2004. He is survived by his son, Brent M. Heavner, daughter-in-law, Krysha D. Gregorowicz Heavner, and grandson, Barrett T. Heavner. Services for Bernie will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20, Pastor Rick Pursley officiating, with a viewing for two hours prior, at Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home on Pike Street in South Parkersburg. Burial will follow at Two Ripple Cemetery in Wirt County.