The holiday season is here, football season is in full swing and hunting season is approaching. These are a few of Ward 1 Alderman Ken Heard’s favorite things.
When he’s not serving his community as alderman, you can probably find him in the woods, casting a line or traveling to Oxford to watch his alma mater’s football team.
“I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors,” Heard said. “Hunting and fishing has always been a large part of my life. Now, I really get a lot of satisfaction from watching my three grandchildren grow up and participate in their activities.”
He and his son, Kenny, have always gone hunting and fishing together. Heard was a member of a hunting club for 25 years.
“That was a huge part of my life, as well as bringing up my children in that club,” he said.
On fall weekends Heard and his wife Cynthia typically spend the time in Oxford gearing up for the football games on Saturday. He said he could almost walk to the game from his place up there.
Heard is a Northeast Jackson native, where he attended Murrah High School.
“I’ve been here pretty much all my life,” he said. “I was born in Memphis, but I’ve lived here all my life.”
Heard made the move into Ridgeland after he and his wife were married.
“It’s just always been home.”
He was graduated from Ole Miss in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
After several years of working in sales, Heard made the decision to go back to school.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in cytotechnology at University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1991, and in 2008 a master’s also from at UMMC.
At 41 he became a cytotechnologist and worked his way through the ranks at the medical center. He served as a faculty member for a while as well.
“I ended up running the cytology lab as the chief cytotech for a number of years, then I had the opportunity to go back and join the faculty,” Heard said. “It was really satisfying to see the students as they began to incorporate what you were teaching them.”
Heard has served on the Ridgeland board of aldermen since 2001.
A former alderman gave him the opportunity to be her pick on the planning and zoning board for the city. He later served as chairman on that board for several years.
“I began to be really interested in the workings of municipal government at that time,” Heard said. “When the alderman for Ward One decided not to run again, I was living in Ward One and chose to run at that point back in 2001 for my first term.”
He is now serving his fifth term.
Heard said he has always tried to be a “voice of fiscal conservatism.” His goal was to help prioritize what the major needs were for the city and focus on citizen involvement.
“It’s very satisfying,” Heard said of serving the city as an alderman. “It’s been the most satisfying aspect of my professional life, to be able to work with and serve the citizens in the community.”
He said the job isn’t always easy and can be stressful, but it’s worth it to serve his community.
