Mr. John Jack Joseph Heavey Jr.

John (Jack) Joseph Heavey, Jr. was born in Malden, MA on April 6, 1927, the son of the late Madeleine Mulloy Heavey and John Joseph Heavey, Sr. He was graduated from Belmont High School in 1944. He joined the Army Air Force and attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst before serving in Japan and Korea. Following World War II, he returned to Boston and was graduated from Northeastern University in 1951 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. He was president of his senior class, pitched for the varsity baseball team and was captain of the varsity hockey team. As the result of a head injury sustained during a hockey game against Boston College, the NCAA made it mandatory for all hockey players to wear helmets.

Jack worked for thirty-two years marketing computer, aerospace and military systems to government agencies and prime contractors with a specialty in guidance and control, electro-optical and RF systems and propulsion and strategic / tactical missiles. Jack especially loved his days working with NASA during the Apollo program. He worked most recently at Raytheon until 1992 when he retired to Chatham.

Jack is best known for building his own waterfront house on Nantucket Sound, a project that took him two decades and where he entertained his family and friends with his contagious smile. The house he built was a cathedral and the island in the kitchen was his stage. His legendary stories revealed a droll humor coupled with an incisive wit. He could make a trip to the post office sound like a trip to the moon with all the requisite laughs, drama, pathos and imagery. His adventurous spirit took him to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine, scuba dive in Scituate Harbor, sail the coast of Maine and nurse cars well past 200,000 miles.

Jack is survived by: his wife of 57 years, Teresa (Terry) McGowan Heavey and his daughter Lisa Evans and his son-in-law Pete Evans of Providence, RI. He was the doting grandfather of Katie Goldman and her husband Sam Goldman of Providence, RI, and Kelly Evans and Sara Evans of Boston, MA. He was the proud great-grandfather of Harriet and Margaret Goldman. He also leaves behind his niece, Mary McQueeney, nephews Frank and Robert Heavey, cousins Margaret Cummings and Kenneth Heavey, and Godson Edmund Doherty. His sister Patricia Gaffney and brother Robert Heavey preceded him in death.

A viewing will be held on Saturday, February 4th from 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM at Nickerson Funeral Home, 87 Crowell Road, Chatham, MA 02633. A Mass of Christian burial will follow at 10:30 AM at Holy Redeemer Church in Chatham, with burial at South Chatham Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Expect Miracles Foundation, 6 Quail Run, Hingham, MA 02043 or at www.expectmiraclesfoundation.org.

For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com