our namesake
William Cliff Heaton Jr.
A curly headed little boy walked through the doors of the elementary school of Lee Academy with a huge smile on his face and loved every minute of every day until he graduated in 2008. While at Lee Academy this child received numerous Colt Character Awards, he played football, basketball and golf. His senior year while on the golf team, they won the State championship. He was in the favorite show, nominated for Mr. Lee, voted Most Popular Senior Boy, Vice- President of his Senior Class and Co-Editor of The Lee Academy Traveller. He graduated with the Class of 2006 still with a huge contagious smile and a tremendous love and appreciation for his time spent at Lee Academy. He was quoted in an English paper, “Lee is a school that has given me a good education. The teachers and students have helped me mold my character. I will always be thankful for them.”
After graduation, he attended the University of Mississippi, pledged Phi Delta Theta and began his studies in business. Unfortunately, while at Ole Miss he made some bad choices and experimented with drugs which lead to more drugs and stronger drugs which eventually became a lifestyle of addiction. For ten years he, with the help of family and friends, fought his addiction.
On April 29, 2017, William Cliff Heaton, Jr. died from a drug overdose. He was 29 years old. The Heaton family turned their tragedy into motivation to help provide resources for others battling this disorder.
Our Mission
Our family
Cliff Heaton Sr.
“Cliff was the most giving, caring and loving child that anyone has ever known. He always put everyone in front of himself. He loved everyone and would literally give the shirt off his back to help someone. Cliff would have been a great friend to a lot of people, a great asset to the community, an unbelievable husband and an unbelievable father. You could always count on him to be there when you needed him.”
Chris Heaton
“If he had recovered I know as much as Cliff cared about others and wanted to help others he would have shared his story and put it out there to help others. He would have been a huge influence on others. His favorite bible verse is Luke 6:31 “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and his favorite quote is “LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST” Both of these quotes say a lot about my son.”
Cadey Heaton
“Cliff would have given to this world so much, he was only here 29 years and he still gave so much to others. He is remembered by his loving heart caring spirit, contagious smile, and most importantly he loved his family so much. He would want us to help others who are struggling like he did every day. He wanted to see this drug addiction stop and people stand up and help others struggling and their families.”
Ann Granville Heaton
“I adored and still adore my older brother. He was everything a sister looked for in a brother ,funny, cute, goofy, caring and silly. I could go on and on. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him if it meant that he would be happy and healthy. Even though my brother is not here with us today, he would have given to this world and is giving to this world now. He is a hero in my eyes. He is a hero so we can share his story and maybe save someone. We couldn’t save my brother but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference in his honor. He wanted a normal life ,he wanted a family and a healthy boy named after him ,he wanted to take over my father’s farm and make him proud. He would have given anything in this world to beat this addiction.The love he had for our family was unconditional and that’s why we are here today because we want to share the love Cliff would have given to the world.”
Lucy Heaton
“Cliff had so much potential to give so much to the world. He was smart, outgoing, lovable, funny, inventive, and so much more. He always just wanted to be normal. He wanted to beat the disease so badly so he could live a normal life and have a family. Just like everyone else really, Cliff had the potential to be great, but a couple bad decisions led to more and more and addiction took over his life.”