Thomas Gaillard Heyward

Thomas Gaillard Heyward, 65 died Tuesday, November 27, 2007 in the Hilton Head Regional Hospital, Hilton Head Island, SC. He was born in Bluffton, SC on March 6, 1942. He was the son of the late Gaillard Stone and Lucille Griffin Heyward.Thomas graduated from Bluffton High School and went on to enroll in the University of South Carolina at Beaufort. After two years he moved to the main campus in Columbia, where he spent another four years, but never graduated. A few years ago, he began working on a degree from Trinity College of the Bible. While in college, Tommy began a career in aviation and immediately knew that he had found what he wanted to do for a living. He sprayed for mosquito control under the name of Heyward Air Spray for twenty years. He also got into the airport business, running Hilton Head Air Service, which he did for twenty-five years, until he retired in 2002. Outside of his career, Tommy was very involved in every area of the Bluffton community. In 1974, along with a few other people, he helped to start the Beaufort County EMS. He was EMS Chairman for six out of ten years, and also at the same time, a volunteer firefighter. In 1994, Tommy was appointed to the Board of the LRTA, where he was chairman for ten of thirteen years, and just retired this March. Most recently, Tommy was elected to the Bluffton Town Council, of which he was very proud. Bluffton town politics and government were very close to his heart, as his grandfather had been Mayor of Bluffton for many years.The Church of the Cross was another important part of Tommy