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The Rice Thresher
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by Leslie Liu thresher editorial staff
Hearon was out for a late-night meal with Jones sophomore Jon Noack in the early hours of the morning. After accelerating after a stoplight on Fannin Street and Braeswood Drive, Hearon's two-week-old sports car spun out of control, and the driver's side door hit a pole. It was raining hard at the time and the street was slippery. Noack, who was riding in the front passenger's seat, was uninjured. Hearon was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital, and he died at about 9 a.m. Hearon, who was originally from Hickory, N.C., matriculated in 1996 but was not attending Rice this semester. Instead, after he worked in Austin for Trilogy Software last summer, the company hired him to continue working on a project this fall. Hearon planned to return in the spring to finish his degree, Jones seniors Michael Perkins and Roy Stogner said. "He was one of those people who ... learn[ed] more than half of the stuff he knew outside the classroom just because he wanted to learn that, not what they were trying to teach him," Perkins said. Jones Master Enrique Barrera said Hearon was looking forward to coming back next semester. "He loved Rice, so he was here all the time," he said. Perkins and Stogner said Hearon often visited Houston on the weekends, and one particular reason he was in town Nov. 18 was to celebrate the birthday of Linda Fernandezlopez (Jones '00). On Nov. 19, a memorial was held at the Jones House for Hearon's friends and other members of the college. Friends shared e-mails written by and to Hearon while others told stories about him. "Basically, students talked about their memories associated with Patrick and the kind of person he is and how much he'd be missed," Jones President Avinash Pinto, a friend of Hearon, said. Barrera attended the funeral services in North Carolina on Nov. 21 on behalf of Hearon's friends at Rice. "Patrick was a very vibrant and full of life person," Barrera said. "He did a lot of things to the max. ... Students and I myself remember how he spent a lot of time during his early years on rollerblades. ... He would go to class [on them] - he basically lived on rollerblades. "He was involved a great deal in college activities, from the standpoint of those that really had a lot to do with spirit. He was always one to go and quickly dye his hair green or purple or other Jones colors to show his spirit for the college," Barrera said. Perkins said Hearon was always full of energy. "When he would get an idea in his head that he wanted to do something, no matter how crazy it was, he would devote so much energy to trying to make that vision come true," Perkins said. Perkins and Stogner talked about the time Hearon decided he wanted to launch model rockets. Stogner said he even bought an engine for a rocket that he couldn't launch because he couldn't get permission from the Federal Aviation Administration. One of the rockets Hearon did launch flew over across campus and into the Stadium Lot. Students have discussed a creating tribute in Hearon's memory, Barrera and Pinto said. Donations have already been sent to the college coordinator's office. Ideas include a plaque to be placed in an area of Jones Hearon frequented, a computer for the college or an endowed scholarship. Barrera also said that Trilogy has expressed interest in doing something in Hearon's memory for the university. Barrera met with Hearon's parents and said that although they were concerned about Hearon's friends, they felt a lot better knowing what the community was doing to help the students. Perkins has also created a Web site dedicated to Hearon's memory at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mperkins/memoriam.html. Hearon is survived by his parents, Brian and Ardyth Hearon, and a younger brother, Phillip Hearon. A memorial service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Rice Chapel. The Hearon family has asked that memorial donations be sent to Jones College.
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