Sara Patton Hearn

Sara Jean Hearn passed away on the morning of Sunday, July 6, 2025, at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee. Sara was born in Ashland City, Tennessee, on August 6, 1926, to Ruby Chambliss Patton and Porter Patton. Sara was particularly close to her grandfather, James Carroll Chambliss of Ashland City, whom she called Papa, and to her mother, whom she cared for her in her home for many years.

As a young woman, Sara worked for Life & Casualty Insurance Company in downtown Nashville, where she loved shopping on her lunch breaks, especially for jewelry. It was on a bus into downtown Nashville that she met Lewis Hearn: she and her friends were “talking country” that day, which caught his ear. She married Lewis on April 30, 1949, in Ashland City. Sara and Lewis had two sons, Kevin Lewis Hearn and George Kerry Hearn. Sara enjoyed being a “den mother” when her sons were in elementary school.

She joined Ashland City United Methodist Church as a teenager, and she remained a member of the church until she passed away and interested in its wellbeing even she could no longer attend. She and Lewis will be remembered for their support of the congregation, especially for the donation of its current steeple. They also derived great joy from purchasing toys and gifts for Christmas Angel Trees and, in their retirement years, from taking older relatives and friends to appointments and on shopping trips. They were season ticket holders to Opryland for many years, enjoying many a show and evening dinner at the amusement park.

Sara was very fond of her neighbors near her home on Vine Ridge Drive in Nashville, especially their children. She loved animals, especially dogs, and she enjoying feeding the birds outside her window. She was always careful in choosing her jewelry and very particular about matching her blouses to her slacks. She was loved and well cared for by her neighbors, her church family, her extended family, and the kind caregivers at Mary, Queen of Angels, The Place at the Trace, and Alive Hospice.

Sara is preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Mildred and Sue, her brother Jimmy, her son Kevin, and her husband Lewis. She is survived by her son George.

The family will receive friends on Friday, July 11, 2025, from 11:00AM until 1:00PM at West Harpeth Funeral Home located at 6962 Charlotte Pike in Cleveland. A Celebration of Sara’s Life will begin at 1:00PM in the Chapel at West Harpeth. Following the service, Sara will be laid to rest next to her husband, Lewis, in the Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens.